Consequences
by LoganAlpha30
Summary: Set after series finale of Angel, what I think might happen...My usual couples, Chapter 48 Now Up! COMPLETED!
1. Default Chapter

**CONSEQUENCES**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**Author's Note: This takes place after the series finale of Angel and is my idea about possibly what happened next to everyone.**

**CHAPTER 1-DISOBEYING**

Let's face it, LA looked like shit when all was said and done. At least a dozen city blocks were laid to waste. Dad said that he had been totally surprised that anything other than he and uncle Angel had survived the destruction. In reality dad and uncle Angel only survived by the skin of their teeth, and only because of Aunt Nina and her stubbornly refusing to follow Uncle Angel's instructions, a habit that thankfully continues to this very day…

-Memoirs of William "Spike" Summers Jr.

Each small, minute act that he dared, from blinking his eyelids to trying to inhale brought on jagged knives of pain through his chest and spine. Even though he truly did not require to breathe it came to him more as a reflex than a necessity. Blood soaked his vision and trickled down into his mouth, making him nauseous. Through the fuzzy haze that enveloped his memory he remembered Angel's declaration that he wanted to be the one to kill the dragon, but after that the onslaught had all run together into an amalgamated nightmare of biblical proportions. He had fractured recollections of Illyria casting herself at the portal, shrugging off blow after blow before she had reached her destination. The explosion that started the chain reaction had been Illyria sacrificing her own life to close Wolfram and Hart's portal, thus ceasing the tide of demons.

His most immediate concern was escaping the fast approaching sunrise by whatever means necessary. He didn't know where Angel was or even if his grandsire had survived the angry mob of demons. Guided by scent and sound more than sight Spike shuddered in pain as he hauled himself back up to his feet using a half shattered wall for support. He stumbled awkwardly along the wall for a few wobbly steps, the cracked edges of the bricks slicing open his already bloody fingers and palms, before we was halted by a surprising voice.

"S…Spike," Nina called out fearfully, her eyes wide as she took in the scene of absolute horror in front of her. Rather than the brash, confident, and strangely endearing bleached blond vampire that she had come to know Nina saw before her his opposite. Instead she beheld a sickening sight, as Spike looked worse than she had ever seen him. His beloved duster hung off of his seemingly skeletal frame in tatters, large gaping holes burnt out of it with the pale white skin beneath horribly charred. She was amazed that he was even walking. But if he had made it then there was still hope to be had. "Angel…Spike where's Angel," Nina exclaimed frantically as she forget her bout of shock and rushed forward, seizing Spike by the shoulders before he let out a very pained howl. "Sorry…," Nina chided herself as her cheeks went crimson with embarrassment and regret and were washed in a torrent of terrified tears.

"Forget about it pet," Spike answered softly with a faint hint of his old bravado and smile before he turned back to look out over the desolation.

"Angel…," Nina asked again, this time with a nervous tone to her voice and a slight sniffle, as she slowly made her way past Spike and down into the crater.

"No clue…we got separated, bloody fool couldn't let the fight end without slaying that damn dragon, tried to tell him that this wasn't a bloody fair tale but…," Spike answered with an almost haughty grin on his face that tried to conceal the look of concern and worry in his gaze.

"Spike," Nina exclaimed with an exasperated and shocked look of anger on her face as she had to fight hard to keep from slapping him upside the head for the remark.

"Oh come off it…I'm sure that Peaches is here somewhere, he's to damn stubborn to die," Spike groaned with a pained grimace on his face as he started to follow Nina down into the crater.

"At least until I'm one hundred percent sure that you're already dead," Angel declared with a voice dripping with relieved sarcasm as he tried to mask his joy at finding Spike still alive amidst the destruction.

"Angel," Nina shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes glistening with tears of joy, before she scrambled back up out of the crater past an astonished and smirking Spike and flung herself at Angel.

"N…Nina, what are you," Angel started to ask with a very surprised look on his face, as Nina tightened her hug and wept into his shoulder, while asking Spike with his eyes what his girlfriend was doing there. Spike's only answer was a half smirk coupled with a painful shrugging of his shoulders before he leaned his back up against the remaining wall and allowed his knees to bend while sliding down the wall into a crouched position. "Spike," Angel shouted in alarm as he disentangled himself from Nina and rushed to his grandchilde's side amidst the rubble.

"I'm okay Peaches…just got a little winded, nothing to worry about," Spike mumbled back as he weakly tried to wave Angel off.

"You don't breathe Spike, so tell me another one," Angel shot back with a serious and sad look of disapproval on his face before he looped an arm around Spike's shoulders and tried to help him stand back up.

"Let go of me," Spike growled angrily as he momentarily half slipped his game face on before because of his severely weakened state his human visage slipped back into place.

"I will…when I'm sure that you're not going to pass out on me, come on we need to find some cover, the sun's almost up," Angel snapped back with a frustrated and impatient scowl on his face as he scanned their surroundings for cover.

"Wait…where's Gunn…Wesley…Illyria, Angel…," Nina asked slowly with a steadily decreasing look of hope on her face until her knees began to shake slightly. "Oh God…," Nina gasped softly, with tears forming in her eyes, as she clapped a hand over her mouth and sank to the ground, feverishly attempting to refrain from bursting into tears. The end result was to release a couple of garbled moans of horror and sadness.

"Nina…," Angel groaned softly with a worried look on his face before he left Spike's side and rushed over to keep Nina moving as he began to hear the sirens of the police and paramedics coming ever closer.

"What…Angel what, how," Nina stammered out with a shell-shocked look on her face as she slowly rose back up to her feet and allowed Angel to lead her over towards where Spike was busy trying to stay on his feet.

"Later Nina," Angel answered with a grim frown on his face as Spike snickered a couple of times at them jokingly before looking sadly back at the devastation.

"What now…," Spike asked with a weary expression on his face as he started to limp badly away from the epicenter and towards the nearest usable sewer entrance.

"We find some cover before I pass out…," Angel replied with a pained grimace on his face before he knelt down and got a good grip on the manhole cover.

"Hail the conquering heroes…," Nina mumbled dryly as she wrapped her arms tightly around her midsection and stared out as the first few rays of the morning sun washed over her, illuminating a solitary tear sliding down her cheek.

Buffy awoke to the sounds and smells that she had become accustomed to in Italy every since leaving the ruins of Sunnydale far behind. She could smell Andrew in the kitchen, mostly because for every day since an odd night when she had come back after a less than enthusiastic date with the Immortal Andrew had cooked every single dish that he could think of. He did this without fault or detour. Buffy had tried everything that she could think of, including threats, to get him to divulge the reasons for his culinary feats. Dawn had come the closest to uncovering his reasons but she had become stymied like the rest of them when Giles had mentioned Angel's name. After that they had all given up hope of ever figuring it out.

"Morning Buffy," Xander shouted with a warm smile on his face before he pulled Buffy into a warm hug.

"I…it's morning, man…how long was I out," Buffy quipped with a confused smile on her face before Xander pulled away and allowed her to take a seat on the couch.

"Xander's exaggerating Buffy; it's really like three in the afternoon," Willow chimed in with a slightly scolding frown on her face before she couldn't help it and her frown broke into a smile.

"Really…guess I must have been really tired," Buffy mumbled through a deep yawn as she began a carefree search for the remote.

"A little worn out from the big date…," Dawn joked from the doorway before she walked into the living room, looking ready to go out with friends.

"Uh…something like that," Buffy replied with a nervous and slightly embarrassed smile on her face before Xander reached over the back of the chair and handed her a steaming hot cup of tea.

"Oh Buffy, I almost forgot, Giles called about an hour ago, he wanted you to go and see him after you woke up," Andrew interjected with a happy smile on his face as he momentarily stepped out of the kitchen before having to rush back to tend to something on the stove.

"Great, he probably found another new slayer that he wants me to help him track down…isn't this one like the fourth this week," Buffy groaned with a tired and frustrated pout on her face as she took a sip of her tea and then leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

"Fifth…if my numbers are right…but look at it this way…," Willow began to say with a chipper smile on her face before the front door swung up and a hurried looking Kennedy rushed in, followed behind by a very concerned looking Giles, and turned the television on.

"Why hello Kennedy…nice to see you to, how are you this…," Xander joked with a content smile on his face as he took a cup of tea for himself that Willow handed him before he walked over and handed the one that he had picked up earlier to Giles.

"Have you guys seen the news…," Kennedy called out to no one in particular as she frantically flipped through the channels until she found one that she liked.

"Not really big on the news here Kennedy, it's always the same ole thing…even in Italy," Buffy mumbled with a slightly drowsy smile on her face as she pulled her feet up off of the floor and laid them on the next cushion over.

"It's never been like this Buffy," Kennedy stated back with a very grim and serious scowl on her face as she stood up and scrambled back to the couch, pushing Buffy's feet off of the cushion before sitting down.

"Sorry Giles, but I don't see what the big deal is…see there's the aftershock rings, just another earthquake," Xander asked with a slightly confused look on his face as he nodded his head towards a map of Los Angeles with what looked like the usual earthquake coverage on the news.

"There was no earthquake in California last night Xander, this is something else…something I fear far worse," Giles replied with a very serious and almost impatient frown on his face as he politely closed the door.

"You think it's the hellmouth, getting all hell-mouthy again," Buffy wondered, dreading the thought of the hellmouth that had taken so much from her opening up again.

"Let's hope not…," Xander groaned with a look of sad regret on his face as he half turned away from the screen and stared off into the space. He always got this way when any mention of anything connected to Anya was brought up.

"For once I do not think that the hellmouth had anything to do with what happened in Los Angeles last night, but I'm afraid to think of what could have…given the amount of damage," Giles answered with a deep in thought frown on his face before he took a sip of tea and sighed.

"Search and recovery efforts continue here with still no clear cause in sight, to recap…early this morning a very large and powerful blast with origins unknown shook this city to its core, and when the sun came up the horrendous amount of devastation could be truly taken into account…it's still to early to tell but government and city officials do not believe that this was the work of terrorists connected with Osama Bin Laden, but they stress that they are not willing to rule anything out at this moment…," A grim and scared looking newscaster stated as she tried to stay out of the way of a multitude of rescue workers and gawking spectators near a barricade.

"Natural gas explosion…," Dawn started to ask with a bored look on her face before the news station switched to an aerial view of the devastation. The room went instantly silent, with Buffy having to hold firmly onto her cup of tea with both hands to keep from dropping it while nearly everyone else's jaws hit the floor.

"Oh no…," Willow gasped in utter shock as she covered her mouth with her hands and tried to stay calm.

"How…what could have done that much damage," Buffy finally asked with a very serious and upset expression on her face as she reached over and set her cup of tea down on the end table.

"I'm not entirely sure Buffy, but from the few sources in Los Angeles that I have actually been able to get in touch with they strongly believe that the cause of this destruction was supernatural in nature, one of my oldest friends, a retired watcher, phoned me on the way over here, he said that a giant portal appeared in the sky last night, and through the pouring rain what looked like an army of demons and other horrific creatures marching through the streets," Giles replied with a very worried and concerned scowl on his face before he lowered himself into one of the empty chairs and took a sip of his tea.

"Do you think that Angel had anything to do with this…," Buffy asked with a well hidden look of nervousness on her face as she turned her gaze back from Giles' face to the screen.

"It's entirely possible, with all of the resources of Wolfram and Hart at his disposal…and if the reports of his recent actions are true…I wouldn't put it out of the frame of reference to suggest that…Angelus…might have been set upon the world once more," Giles answered slowly, his voice in a low and not very optimistic tone, before he used one hand to pull a handkerchief out of his pocket and began to clean his glasses while handing Xander his cup of tea with the other. That hypothesis got a sharp and scared gasp out of everyone except for Dawn.

"But Giles…you're not sure, not one hundred percent sure…that Angel had anything to do with this right, I mean just because he took over as CEO of Hell Inc. doesn't necessarily mean that he's behind this…I mean we should at least call him or something right," Dawn wondered with a scared look on her face as she turned and looked sadly down at Buffy.

"Dawn…we've been over this, as hard as it is to handle we simply can't trust Angel anymore, we can't be sure of his motives…," Buffy replied softly with a pained look on her face as she tried to stay as calm as possible given the current state of affairs that she found herself in.

"I think Dawn's right…," Andrew jumped in with a timid but daring look on his face as he stepped out of the kitchen and took of the apron.

"Yeah well…no one asked you," Kennedy snapped with an annoyed scowl on her face before she found the remote.

"So what now Giles, what's our next move," Buffy asked with a serious and slightly nervous look on her face as she stood up and picked her cup of tea up off of the end table.

"I've already sent word to my contacts in the area, when they find out anything concrete then they'll report back to me and we'll have a better understanding of the situation before we proceed," Giles answered with a calm but yet serious look on his face as he finished cleaning his glasses and put them back on.

"Good…then when they do…wake me up, I'm going back to bed, maybe I'll be lucky and this will all be some crazy dream…," Buffy joked with a tired yawn as she handed a surprised Andrew her cup of tea before she sauntered off back to her bedroom.

"Angel…quit being such a big baby and let me see," Nina groaned with an annoyed scowl on her face as she tried once again to get Angel to let her clean his injuries. The trio had traveled a short distance before arriving back at the Hyperion and while Spike had crashed on one of the couches Angel had slumped down onto the round sofa in the middle of the dimly lit lobby.

"It's not really that bad…damn," Angel grumbled as he started to protest but the unshakeable scowl on Nina's face made him face facts. With a frustrated and nervous look on his face Angel unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off, revealing a torso full of burned patches, dark purple bruises, and to many small cuts and nicks to count.

"Great…you try to play hero and this is what you get," Nina stated with a less than pleased expression on her face before she stood up to try to get a better look at Angel's injuries.

"I'm not a hero…or a champion, not anymore," Angel mumbled with a very sad and somber frown on his face before the front doors of the Hyperion were flung open and a slightly limping Connor hobbled through, his face brightening up at the sight of Angel still amongst the surviving few.

"Connor…," Nina exclaimed with a shocked and worried look on her face before she rushed to his side and helped him limp towards Angel.

"Dad…," Connor stated with a nervous look on his face at first before he broke into a smile and he and Angel hugged each other.

"Such a touching moment…almost makes me wish that I gave a bloody damn," Spike piped up from the couch before he painfully sat up and shook his head.

"How bad is it," Connor asked after having taken a step back from Angel, allowing the latter to sit back down on the sofa.

"Bad…Connor, Spike and I are all that's left," Angel replied with sullen and grim expression on his face as he dropped his head down a bit and scratched the back of his head.

"Angel please…can't all of this wait until tomorrow, the world won't end between now and then…," Nina added with an impatient and very worried look on her face before she went to the counter and retrieved the first aid kit.

"Yeah…I guess so," Angel answered with a tired and weary look on his face as Connor sat down on the sofa beside him and made a face at the sight of Angel's injuries.

"Good, now sit still and let me work, I'd hate for my boyfriend to bleed to death," Nina commanded with a sincere and serious frown on her face as she hurried back over towards the sofa.

"Well actually Nina…unless we can find a way to keep that portal closed the senior partners are only going to open up another one to finish us all off…and from the rumblings that I've heard it won't take them very long," Connor stated with a less than pleased look on his face before Spike leaned back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Great…Blue sacrifices herself to close the bloody portal and now we find out that even that isn't enough," Spike grumbled with a sarcastic chuckle before he had to stop as the searing pain in his chest became to much.

"So what now," Connor asked with a concerned and unsure scowl on his face as he pushed Angel's bloody shirt off of the sofa and onto the floor.

"We find someone that can figure out a way to keep a portal from ever opening up again," Angel declared with a very serious and concerned look on his face before he hissed in pain as Nina dabbed some peroxide on a cotton ball and dabbed at the biggest of Angel's cuts.

"Care to explain who we're going to get to do that, only one that I knew of could do that was Wesley, but since he's dead we're out of options…," Spike mused with an unhappy and rueful scowl on his face before he grunted in pain as he hauled himself back up to his feet.

"You're right Spike, Wesley was the only one…but now that he's dead…," Angel continued with a sad frown on his face as he hung his head and slumped his shoulders forward a bit.

"It's only a matter of time before they open another portal and finish us off," Nina guessed with an almost sarcastic smile on her face before she dabbed another of Angel's cuts.

"Guess there's only one thing left to do then…," Angel began with a slightly unsure smile on his face as he turned his head and looked over at Spike, who stopped mid step to scowl at Angel.

"Don't even think about it Angel, they wouldn't help us before and they're not going to help us now, Giles wouldn't even take your call when Fred's life was at stake…he won't take it now," Spike grumbled with an angry and spiteful sneer on his face as he made his way over towards the sofa and sat down beside Connor, barely acknowledging his presence.

"Then we have only one course of action, somehow…some way…we have to get Wesley back," Angel stated slowly, in a tone of voice that hinted that even he wasn't liking the plan, before everyone in the lobby fell silent and concerned themselves about making it through the day.

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Doubts And Regrets

**CONSEQUENCES**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.**

**Author's Note: The couples will be my usual couples, some will take a little longer to develop than others but they'll be there.**

**CHAPTER 2-DOUBTS AND REGRETS**

She stared long and hard at her hands, desperately trying to keep from vomiting up what was left of her lunch. Each arm was thoroughly coated in dark red blood from the tips of her fingers to the points of her elbows. She had noticed this after helping Angel and Spike clean their wounds. As she turned on the water there was a grumbling in the pit of her stomach. The rising wolf in her thirsted for the blood and initially she shuddered at the thought. But as the rumble grew louder she could deny it no longer and with her eyes tightly clenched she nervously licked some of the blood off of her left arm. Almost immediately she gagged on the taste, and revolted at the idea of what she was doing. But the wolf inside of her wouldn't back down just yet and she licked some more of the blood off before gritting her teeth and hurriedly letting the water wash the rest of the blood down the drain and away from her appetite.

"Nina…you okay in there," Angel asked softly with a concerned tone to his voice as he turned the doorknob and entered the bathroom.

"Huh, oh yeah Angel…I'm fine," Nina lied with a weak smile on her face as she slowly turned around and faced Angel, grabbing a towel along the way. Almost immediately she knew that Angel had seen right through her lie as his eyes grew wide at first before his gaze dropped down to the floor.

"No you're not…you're hurt," Angel replied with an unconvinced frown on his face as he walked up and gently ran the pad of his thumb along Nina's chapped lower lip. With a slightly worried and confused look on his face Angel held his thumb up in front of him for Nina to get a better look. Her quick retort died in her throat at the sight of Angel's thumb only a few inches in front of her, half covered in blood.

"I…well I…I…," Nina started to say in response before her lower lip began to quiver and her eyes welled up in tears. With a sniffle she turned away from Angel and hid her face in her hands.

"You couldn't help it, could you…so much blood, right there, it smelled so good…it had to have it," Angel stated calmly with an anxious tone to his voice as he took a step forward and hesitated a little bit before laying a hand on Nina's shoulder.

"I didn't, I didn't want to do it but it…," Nina mumbled through her hands before the tears acted on their own accord and poured out.

"It's not your fault Nina, you were hungry, the werewolf within you was hungry, the blood was there…you're not evil for letting go for a moment…," Angel countered with a sincere and comforting edge to his voice before he reached out and pulled Nina into a reassuring hug, his chest soon slick with her tears.

"So you're Angel's kid, guess that makes us family," Spike stated with an awkward frown on his face as he nearly choked on the word family, still surprised by the sudden turn of events.

"Something like that yeah," Connor replied gruffly with an impatient look on his face as he kept his gaze locked onto the door that first Nina and then Angel had walked through.

"Peaches…a father, doesn't that beat all…guess that means that I'll have to get him something, maybe a book, he always liked books," Spike muttered with a surprised and lost in thought smirk on his face as he wrung his hands momentarily before he exhaled needlessly and ran the palms of his hand down his lap and then over his knees in a display of pent up frustration.

"What…," Connor exclaimed with a very surprised and confused look on his face as he tore his gaze away from the doorway and snapped his head around to stare at Spike.

"You think a little Keats, Dickens, Tolstoy, or maybe I should go a little crazy and get something more for his reading level…do you think that the effulgent Dr. Seuss would be over his head," Spike added with an impish grin on his face as Connor leaned back in surprise.

"What are you talking about," Connor asked with a thoroughly confused and frustrated edge to his actions as he stood up and began to pace back and forth in between the sofa and the counter.

"I thought that it was customary to get a few father a gift of some kind," Spike stated with a deeply concerned pout on his face as he stood up and shrugged his shoulders.

"Forget about it Spike, besides…what I want you couldn't give me," Angel stated from the doorway looking, if possible, more grim than before he entered. Nina appeared next, looking to have cried herself a river of tears. Connor furrowed his brows and flickered his gaze to Angel in a silent bout of questioning but Spike squinted at the pair for a second before his emotionless face broke out into a sly smile and he tried to laugh but was forced to stop by any number of his injuries.

"You sure Angel, because I think that there's a nice little bookstore on the corner a few blocks from here, maybe if I'm lucky I can find one of those Dick and Jane books, junior here might get a kick out of them," Spike joked with a half smirk on his face as he wiped a bit of blood away from one of his injuries and sat back down on the sofa.

"Are you okay…you don't look so good," Connor asked Nina with a concerned expression on his face as he walked up to Nina and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine Connor…really, but thanks for the show of concern, I guess that I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that's happened…," Nina replied with a weak smile and short sniffle before she looped her arm around Angels and laid her head down on his shoulder.

"We have to figure out a way to close that portal for good, but we can't stay here for to long, Wolfram and Hart know that we survived and that we'd retreat back this far and try to set up shop here again, now what we need to do is…," Angel began with a tired and worn out tone to his voice as he tried his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Go through ole Wes' library of mystical tomes and texts, books that may I remind you that none of us have any clue how to read, and hope that we get lucky," Spike contributed without the smallest amount of sarcasm as he looked up towards Angel and held honesty in his look.

"You're right Spike, Wesley was the only one that could make heads or tails out of any of those books, without him it's hopeless…dam nit, I shouldn't have sent him alone to…," Angel began with a look of deep regret on his face as he balled his left hand up into a fist and tried to squeeze out his anger.

"Don't blame yourself dad, Wesley knew the risks going into it, he chose to follow you and accepted that came with certain risks, one of them being the possibility that he could die…," Connor interjected with a very grim and serious expression on his face before he bent over and squeezed his aching knee.

"Then we have a problem people, because after what we just did I can tell you for a fact that there's not going to be any self respecting vampire, demon, or human…anything, that's going to help us with this, it's all up to us…," Spike said with a somewhat defeated look on his face as he stood up and began to limp off towards Angel's office, hopeful to find something alcoholic to drink.

"So what else is new…," Angel mumbled with a weary and worn out smirk of sarcasm on his face before he let Nina lead him upstairs to his room and into bed.

"Hello Dawn, is Buffy home," Giles asked with a pensive and nervous scowl on his face as he kept ruffling up the brim of his hat.

"Giles, uh no…she's out with the Immortal again…why, is something wrong," Dawn answered with a quickly worried pout on her face as she ran a hand nervously through her hair while holding onto the doorknob with the other.

"I'm afraid so, and what happened in Los Angeles I fear is only the beginning," Giles replied with a very dark and mysterious scowl on his face as he trudged into the small apartment past a very confused Dawn.

"Hey Dawnie who was that at the…Giles, what are you doing here, I hope it's some good news," Willow asked with a huge yawn as she walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, wearing a bathrobe and with her hair wrapped up in a towel. Willow's yawn quickly turned into a startled gasp as Giles laid out the first bit of bad news.

"Unfortunately my news is most dire, my contacts in Los Angeles, those that are still amongst the living…informed me that Angel and the others pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, most importantly the circle of the Black Thorn, an ancient society of the richest and most powerful of the demonic underworld, they control so much that…furthermore I've been told that Angel only pretended to be Angelus again to gain their confidence enough to infiltrate their inner circle and then to destroy them from within, somehow he actually managed to do it, but the details are sketchy about the rest of it, my contacts have gotten so many conflicting reports that I'm not even completely sure that everything that I've just told you is true…but if any of it is then…," Giles answered with a defeated and very worried sigh as he sat down and leaned forward, starting to spread all of his supplies and papers out on the coffee table in front of him as he spoke.

"We…well then we…," Willow tried to stutter out with a flustered and very nervous pout on her face before Dawn broke in.

"We abandoned our friends…and you know what's worse Willow, they knew it," Dawn added sadly with tears quickly forming in her eyes before she hung her head to try and compose herself.

"I don't know if I'd go that far Dawn…not yet, I'm still not sure that what I've heard about Angel and the others is accurate, I'm afraid that I can't trust the judgment of my contacts in Los Angeles any longer, not for something as vitally important as this, I need someone that I can trust to go to LA and find out the truth," Giles explained with a very serious and anxious sense from his body language before he clasped his hands together and looked sadly at his results spread out on the coffee table in front of him.

"I'll go…," Dawn quickly piped up with a more than eager smile on her face as she jumped up out of her seat and raised her hand as if she were still in school.

"Whoa there over eager girl, Buffy wouldn't let you go to LA right now even if it were a matter of life and death, you're to far behind at school and…," Willow jumped in with a very stern and almost motherly scowl on her face as she plopped down on the couch beside Giles and crossed her arms, glaring lightly at the now much less exuberant Dawn.

"You're worse than Buffy…never let me have any fun," Dawn mumbled sharply back with a sad pout on her face as she sat back down and bent her knees up so that she could wrap her arms around her legs and rest her chin on her knees.

"That's beside the point at the moment Dawn, actually I was thinking about sending Faith, she knows Angel and the area well enough…," Giles began with a suppressed look of optimism on his face and in his eyes before Willow cut in.

"Not to mention that she could really use the free time to try to get over her and Robin's breakup, she hasn't come in before five in the morning this whole week, and when she does she looks like hell," Willow stated with a less than warm look of concern on her face as she described the recent plight of the formerly rogue slayer. After leaving Sunnydale far behind Faith had initially thought about returning to prison and serving out the rest of her time there, atoning for the crimes that she had committed. But Robin and Buffy and the others had convinced her otherwise, that she would be needed much more in Rome than anywhere else. Everything had gone along smoothly for weeks, until one night that Robin and Faith had gotten into a fight of biblical proportions. Faith did not show up again for over a week, and when she did finally show back up she only ended up staying because her help was needed at that moment to bring down a particularly strong adversary of the Immortal.

"Is she still drinking heavily," Giles asked with a nervous and worried tone in his voice as he turned his head to look over at the young witch.

"Uh…," Willow stammered out softly, not wanting in the least to look Giles in the eye and lie to his face.

"I'll take that as a yes then…I wonder if it wouldn't be prudent to send someone…responsible, with her to keep her on the wagon, so to speak," Giles countered with a pessimistic frown on his face as he took a quick look at his watch.

"What about Kennedy, she's been feeling pretty useless around her lately, what with everyone in town adoring the Immortal so much, there's beginning to be nothing for a slayer to do here anymore," Willow wondered with an upbeat expression on her face as she leaned up against Giles' shoulder.

"I'm not sure if that would be wise Willow, given Kennedy's inexperience and…tenuous grasp on her temper…things could get out of hand very quickly if Angel isn't in an agreeing mood, and I can only shudder to think what would happen to her if she ran across Angelus," Giles said with a less than pleased about his options smile on his face before everyone stopped talking as a tired and weary Buffy arrived home.

"Hey guys…what's up," Buffy asked, doing her very best to sound cheerful while stifling a yawn, as she stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind her.

"Would you believe…another apocalypse," Willow joked with a very cheesy and weak grin on her face before Buffy shook her head and plopped down on the other side of Giles, weakly shaking her head in dismay as she went.

It was just after sunset that Angel awoke from his fitful slumber. Almost instantly upon having fallen asleep he had been bombarded by one horrifying image after another. First Fred's image had come to him, politely asking at first and then pointedly demanding to know why she was no more. The phantom image of her in his nightmare was unceasing in its ranting and raving at him about how he had failed her. Gunn's phantom followed quickly behind that of Fred's. However his phantom let loose with a tirade of very factual faults that Angel had perpetrated against them as Angelus, and even a few without the presence of the demon. Wesley's phantom had materialized out of the darkness, calling him on the many failures of his unlife. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. The phantom of Cordelia had slithered around him as a cloud of smoke at first, before changing into the image of his beautiful friend, the one that in his mind he had let die. Her condemnation of him had only barely begun when his hunger had snapped him away from his slumber.

He pried his eyes open to see Nina cuddled up beside him, half naked. He guessed that after helping him to undress that she had become so worn out that halfway through pulling her sweaty and grimy clothes off she had simply given up and gone to sleep. He gently reached out and played with the ends of her bangs with the tip of his index finger for a few moments, reveling in the fact that he could even be in this position with a woman let alone someone that he knew loved him dearly. He had been around long enough to know that look in a woman's eye. He had first seen it in Buffy's eyes, and then Cordelia's, and he had seen it in Nina's eyes while eating lunch with her while he was still a puppet. With great care and precision Angel slowly and reluctantly pulled away from Nina and slipped out of bed, half staggering his way across his apartment towards the bathroom. He hadn't noticed it before but as he reached for the light switch he realized just how badly he had been injured as he felt so stiff that it hurt to even tilt his head to either side. He grimaced through the pain and got into the shower, hoping that the warm water would wash away the horrors of the past day. He finished the shower and dressed before slipping out of the room, figuring that it was best to let Nina sleep for awhile as she looked as if she hadn't gotten any in days.

"Any luck," Angel asked softly as he trudged down the stairs past Spike applying some more ointment to one of his burns while Connor shook his head.

"Not really, fath…Holtz taught me a little bit of the ancient languages while we were in Quartoth, I'm nowhere close to being an expert in any of them…it's pretty much only like I can pick up a few words or phrases here and there…," Connor replied sadly as he stood up and showed Angel the passage of the book that he had been reading.

"We're in the hole now Angel, and unless junior here becomes a bloody genius in the next few minutes…," Spike began with a depressed pout on his face as he closed the book in front of him that he had only been half reading.

"I know Spike…this is all just to crazy to be real…only it is and we're clueless as to what to do…I really wish…," Angel mumbled with a somewhat defeated expression on his face as he ruffled up his hair on the way to the refrigerator.

"No time for wishing Angel, we have to get Wesley back however we can…even if it means that we have to play dirty…," Spike added with a very serious and grim scowl on his face as he limped into the small office after Angel and stared oddly at the pitcher of blood that Angel had pulled out.

"We're not going to kill anyone Spike, at least…not anyone that's human," Angel countered with a thinly veiled threat in the tone of his voice as he poured some of the blood into an old glass and handed it to Spike.

"You know Angel, this is truly pathetic…," A light and sarcastic voice called out from the adjoining off before Spike spun around and tried to get ready to fight but acted to fast and doubled over in pain.

"What are you doing here…," Angel demanded with an unimpressed and nervous expression on his face as he stayed calm and poured himself a glass of blood.

"Thought I'd drop by and see what all the fuss was about…," Gwen joked with a confidant smirk on her face as Angel glared back at her sitting cross legged on the top of his desk.

END OF CHAPTER 2

P.S.-Nina licking up some of the blood stems back from right after she was turned into a werewolf and she heard the blood running through her niece's veins and wanted to attack her along with the raw and bloody meat in the skillet.


	3. If Only

**CONSEQUENCES**

**Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 3-IF ONLY**

"Hey Angel, what's the big idea leaving me all…," Nina groaned sleepily through a big yawn as she pulled a bathrobe around her and tied it tight, her hair still dripping with water after her quick shower.

"Greetings milady," Groo stated with a warm smile on his face as he walked back out of the kitchen with a glass of milk in his hands.

"Who are you," Nina started to ask with a very startled and scared expression on her face as Connor jumped up from his chair, ready to defend her.

"I am sorry if I startled you, it was not my intention," Groo replied quickly with a nervous look on his face as he took a step back and set his glass of milk down on the counter. Nina did her best to make herself small behind Connor, who silently cursed himself for not having a weapon in his hands as he kept his gaze locked onto Groo's every move. "I am here to see Angel," Groo added with an innocent and sincere smile on his face as he stepped back and hoped to catch a glimpse of Gwen or Angel out of the corner of his eye before Connor did anything.

"A friend of yours," Spike asked with a slight smirk on his face as he nodded his head ever so slightly towards Gwen, who feigned to be honored by Spike's smile as she kept her gaze locked onto Angel.

"If you use that term loosely then…yeah, she's a friend," Angel replied softly after a moment of thought before he took a sip of the blood in his glass.

"Hey pal, let's not forget who saved your ass back when you were looking for your perfect little girlfriend…," Gwen shot back with an angry glare on her face as she slipped off of Angel's desk and stalked up to him, finally ending up poking him in the chest with her index finger, throwing into him a few sparks as her gloves stuck out of her jeans pockets.

"If I remember that job correctly your employer double crossed you in the end and locked us both in an elevator and started to fill it with gas, a gas that would have killed you had you not been fortunate enough to be caught in that situation with the one guy in Los Angeles who doesn't need to breathe," Angel calmly stated back, with the glass of blood still at his lips, before the edges of his lips curled up into a smile.

"I hate it when that happens," Spike added with a sly grin of his own as Gwen's glare instantly snapped from the brunette vampire to blonde one.

"You got something to say blondie," Gwen demanded with an angry and confrontational scowl on her face as she turned fully to Spike and looked ready to give him twenty thousand volts before Angel stepped in.

"Enough…we don't have time for this Gwen, we're in to deep of shit to waste time with infighting, you two wanna duke it out later…fine by me, but first we really should…," Angel interjected with a very stern and inflexible pout on his face before he finished off the rest of his blood and was just about to take Spike's glass when a shriek of surprise from the other room snapped the three out of their entanglement.

"Nina," Spike exclaimed with a confused and surprised wide eyed look on his face before he was first out of the office, followed closely behind by Angel and Gwen. Spike instantly dove for Groo's midsection in a flying tackle that sent the two crashing down over the counter and to the floor, with Spike cursing loudly at the pain that it caused. Nina glanced down at a small space between the side of the staircase and the closest end of one of the couches before Angel rushed into action.

"No wait, Spike don't…," Angel shouted quickly with a very nervous and unsure look on his face before Spike and Groo slammed into the floor.

"Angel, what the…Groo," Gwen started to demand with an unhappy look on her face before she pushed Angel out of the way and impatiently walked over to the counter and looked over it.

"What's going on dad," Connor asked with a nervous and unsure look on his face as he cast a quick look back over his shoulder to make sure that Nina was still there.

"Groo stop playing…wait a minute…dad, damn Angel, you've been keeping secrets," Gwen joked with at first a quickly fading look of shock on her face before her mouth curled up into a smile and she smacked Angel on the back.

"It's not really a secret, it's just that…," Angel replied softly with a nervous half smile on his face as he gingerly walked over to the round sofa and collapsed down onto it.

"That's funny, if it's not a secret then why didn't I know," Spike demanded with an impatient and hurt frown on his face as he stood up and walked around the end of the counter, holding his side and wincing as he went. With a confused glare sent Spike's way Groo slowly stood up and looked ready to continue the fight before Gwen leaned over and laid a hand on his arm.

"You weren't here when it all…," Angel started to answer with an unhappy frown on his face when Gwen broke in.

"Hey Angel…where is everybody," Gwen wondered with a bored smile on her face as she hopped up onto the counter and scratched at the countertop with her fingernail. Angel inhaled deeply and let out the useless breath as he slowly turned away from Gwen and hung his head.

"They're…," Angel mumbled with a somber pout on his face as he slipped his hands into his pockets and searched for the right words.

"They're dead…all of them," Spike finished with a drained look on his face before Nina stepped out from behind Connor and walked over and helped Angel to take a seat.

After his suggestion of sending Faith to Los Angeles to discern the truth about what had happened there and to Angel and the rest of his team Giles had begun to have doubts. His doubts stemmed not from whether or not she was the right one for the job or whether or not she would be able to successfully complete the job. He had the utmost confidence in Faith's abilities to wring any amount of needed information out of just about anything or anyone. What he was worried most about was her current state of mind, given her recent breakup with Robin and her excessive use of alcohol to try and cover up her emotional pain, and her close friendship to Angel. Ever since they had landed in London after the destruction of Sunnydale Giles had used many of his contacts, some that he hadn't talked to in years, to keep tabs on the rogue slayer. He made sure to keep a very detailed journal of her every moving, hoping to use it to show her good behavior after having busted out of jail, but never ruling out the possibility of using the information held within it against her. If he needed her to do something and she refused he wanted to have an ace in the hole in his favor.

Once more Buffy had retired early, shrugging off Giles' dire predictions about the possibility of what was happening in Los Angeles, saying that she was tired and was going to bed. Dawn had remarked about how Buffy had begun to do that a lot lately, come home after every date with the Immortal and mumble something before heading to her bedroom and then sleeping late into the next day. Willow and Xander had tried their best to explain it away but Giles' internal warning bell had gone off when Buffy had begun to devote more and more time to dating the Immortal and less and less time to helping locate, train, and relocate the new slayers.

"This had better be good G, I was in the middle of a game of quarters and…," Faith began to say with a bit of a drunken slurring in her speech as she slid into the chair on the opposite side of the desk from Giles.

"I apologize for bringing you here on such short notice Faith, but this is important," Giles replied with a comforting and peaceable smile on his face as he opened up a drawer and pulled out a file that he had only recently begun to fill up while Faith slid her shades back up the bridge of her nose, even though it was creeping up on three in the morning local time.

"It's okay, another beer and those dumb fucks would have passed out anyway," Faith mumbled back with a wicked grin on her face before she took a swig of the beer that she had brought with her.

"Ah…yes, well then I have a very important job that needs doing and I believe that you are the perfect person to…," Giles replied with an awkward smile on his face as he opened up the file and took out a few pictures and handed them to Faith, who seemed reluctant to take them at first. After another swig of beer Faith slowly leaned forward and took the photos from Giles before she let her shades drop down a bit so that she could get a better look at them.

"So who's the blonde, some snitch that you want me to tail," Faith finally asked softly with a bored tone to her voice as she studied the photos for a bit longer before she tossed them back onto the table and leaned back in her chair.

"That's what I want you to find out Faith, she seems to have some kind of connection to Angel, what it is I don't know yet, but she hasn't been seen since the…accident, in Los Angeles two days ago and…," Giles replied with a tired and slightly frustrated expression on his face as he took his glasses of and laid them on the desk in front of him before he rubbed his tired eyes and checked his watch.

"You know that I'll be putting myself in danger, I'm an escaped convict remember, Wes and I didn't exactly sign the guest book on our way out…if the authorities in California get word that I'm back in town then I'm screwed," Faith said softly with a slight hint of fear and reservation in her voice before the edges of her mouth curled up ever so slightly at the end of her statement.

"Still…you are the only one that can get us the information that we need without setting off a tidal wave of…," Giles stated with a very serious and nervous look on his face as he stood up from his desk and walked around the edge of the desk.

"Fair enough, so when do I leave…," Faith asked with a slight shrug of her shoulders before she straightened up in the chair and downed the rest of her beer and then set it down on some papers on Giles' desk.

"Right now…before any potential leads dry up," Giles answered with a grim and tired expression on his face before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a plane ticket.

Angel had a devil of a time explaining away the deaths of every member of his team to Gwen and Groo. After Spike's impromptu statement Gwen had stood in stunned silence for several moments while Groo had lowered his head and mumbled something in Pylean before excusing himself to the garden. Angel had wanted to tell Gwen the story in private but Nina had refused to let him out of her sight, a viewpoint that Connor quickly jumped on board for. It took him nearly two hours to tell the entire story, and when he was done Gwen's response was not exactly what he expected it to be.

"Shit…," Gwen stated with a surprised and bewildered look on her face as Spike could tell that she was trying to keep her facade of not caring one way or the other about the deaths from being irrevocably shattered.

"Not exactly what I expected but…we have more important problems to deal with right now," Angel said with a nervous and unsure look on his face as he sat up in his seat and interlocked the fingers of his left hand with the fingers of Nina's right hand.

"If we don't do something the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart are going to start opening up portals all over the place, and the only one with enough magical knowledge to do anything to stop them is dead…," Spike added with an unhappy frown on his face as he watched his body beginning to heal itself via a deep cut on his left arm.

"Okay…that sucks, so why don't you get someone else to do it…surely there has to be someone around here with that much power," Gwen replied with a serious and somewhat somber smile on her face as she slid off of the counter and took a step forward.

"I wish there were, but Wesley was the only one that could possibly have hoped to decipher the spells that would be required and now that he's gone…and given what we just went through with the senior partners no one's going to help us, we're on our own," Angel said for the others with a deep in thought scowl on his face before he glanced over at Nina and tried to force a smile up to the surface to improve her mood, it didn't work.

"If only we could get him back somehow…but that's impossible right…I mean no one comes back to life after they've died," Nina groaned with an unhappy and concerned frown on her face as she looked desperate to say something to help Angel and the others.

"Says who…Angel and I did it…Buffy to, it could happen…but we'd have to find his soul first…," Spike offered with a dry smile on his face as he stood up and walked over towards Connor, who had been silently standing beside Nina and Angel, taking everything in and trying to decide whether or not he could trust Gwen.

"What about the axis of Pythia," Gwen asked with an optimistic look on her face as she turned back towards Angel.

"The what…," Connor interjected with a confused look on his face as he stepped forward in between Angel and Gwen, almost daring the newcomer to explain herself.

"The axis of Pythia dumbass…what, can't you hear right," Gwen shot back with a slightly angry glare in her eyes as she spun around on Connor and cocked her hips to one side.

"Okay, for those of us in the uninformed, what the bloody hell is the axis of Pythia," Spike interjected loudly with a not pleased and being excluded look on his face as he walked over towards the couch and made sure that he would get an answer.

"It's a mystical object, able to locate souls and the like across dimensional boundaries…," Angel replied with a distant look on his face as he stared off into space, going over in his head the last time that he had used the axis.

"But we know where ole watcher boy's soul is, where all of the white hats go when they die," Spike joked with a sly smirk on his face as he held his side and limped through the lobby, heading for Angel's office.

"Heaven," Nina offered with a thoughtful smile on her face as she absentmindedly rubbed the crucifix that she wore around her neck with the pad of her thumb and leaned in closer to Angel.

"It's possible, not sure that I believe in heaven…hell's definitely there though, nice for a quick visit…but not a place that I'd recommend," Angel stated out into thin air as he seemed to be giving his every thought voice before Gwen groaned and Groo cut in.

"Then we need to retrieve this device, if it can help us find Wesley then we must have it," Groo interjected with an upbeat smile on his face as he walked across the lobby towards Angel, casting a quick wary glance back towards Spike and the office.

"Easier said than done Groo, we don't have it any longer…I sold it to a guy that I thought I could trust in England, he said that he'd hold onto it for me…hey, I needed the money," Angel countered with a sour and embarrassed look on his face as slumped down in his seat a bit and shuffled his feet.

"Great…now we don't have a chance in the world, that thing could be anywhere…," Gwen grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she lightly kicked the counter.

"Not exactly, a few months after I sold the axis I learned that he had given it to the old Watchers Council for them to look after it, so they probably still have it somewhere," Angel shot back with a serious look on his face as he stood up and approached Gwen.

"That still doesn't help us any big guy, they're not exactly going to list something like that on the brochure," Gwen snapped with a sarcastic pout on her face as she crossed her arms and leaned back up against the counter.

"You're right…but Giles would probably know where it was…or at least have some record of it in his files, if we could get a look at those files then we find the axis and they'd never have to know the difference," Angel offered up softly as he began to pace around the room.

"They'd never let you just look at them Angel, it's pretty clear that they think that you've gone over to the dark side, Spike's supposed to be dead, and then everyone else is…," Nina added with a worried look on her face as she slowly stood up and pulled the bathrobe a bit tighter, suddenly lost deep in thought.

"Dead…," Angel said, finishing for Nina, as he stopped pacing ever so slightly before he walked off into the office, suddenly feeling very much like a little pick me up.

Several hours after being carried onto the plane, as she had passed out on the ride over, Faith awoke just as the plane touched down. She groggily sat up in her seat and was thankful that it wasn't sunrise yet as she had a terrible hangover and her eyes were still bloodshot. Cursing under her breath Faith slipped her shades on and wondered if she had remember to bring anything with her or whether she was left with only the clothes on her back. She hoped that wasn't the case as she had been wearing the same clothes for two days straight and had to admit that she was begging to reek. When the plane pulled up to the terminal she kept her head down and fumbled in the overhead compartment for a little bit before she found a couple of duffel bags that she recognized as her own and pulled them out.

She slipped through airport security easily enough, greatly thanks to Giles having called ahead and gotten in contact with one of his informants that worked in airport security. She flashed a little bit of skin to get a cab to come her way rather than a pair of rich looking tourists before she directed the driver to take her to her first destination, Wesley's apartment. She had decided to visit him first for two reasons, one because she guessed that if Angel had gone bad that it'd be easier to get information from Wesley and if necessary take him out then Angel and she believed that he'd let her in and let her use the shower. Faith paid the cabbie and walked up the stairs to Wesley's apartment, finding it disconcerting that the door was wide open. But after a quick sweep of every room and closet she walked back into the living room, content that she was alone. With a smile and shrug of her shoulders she shut and locked the front door before she hit the shower.

She slipped out of the shower reluctantly and wrapped herself up in the first bathrobe that she could find; one that she figured was Wesley's because it smelled like she had remembered his scent being when he had come to bust her out of jail. She tied the ropes tightly in front before she shrugged off trying to comb the tangles out of her hair and decided to grab a beer from the refrigerator and plop down on the couch, hoping to catch something on the news and wait for Wesley to come back home. She was just about to pick up the remote when the sound of something being dropped to the floor outside of the apartment caught her attention. At about the same time her cell phone began to ring. Muttering angrily to herself she set her beer down on the coffee table without using a coaster and fumbled through her bag until she found it. "Yeah," Faith mumbled with a bored and unhappy edge to her voice as she stood up and wiped a patch of collected water off of the side of her face.

"I see that the change in scenery has done little to help your disposition," Giles replied with a frustrated and disapproving tone to his voice before Faith yawned deeply and walked over to the door.

"Yeah…I'm torn up about it to," Faith quipped back with a half hearted smile or sarcasm on her face before she flung open the door and checked both ways for anyone.

"You really should take this more seriously Faith, we need for you to…," Giles scolded Faith through the phone line with an angry frown on his face as Faith bent down and picked up the newspaper before she turned around and shut the door behind her.

"Relax G, I got it all covered, I'm going to lay low at Wes' for a little while, maybe get a good night's sleep…and then check out Angel, okay…just get off my…shit," Faith groaned back to Giles with a bored to death sigh and roll of her eyes as she sat back down on the couch and flipped the paper around to the front page. She was about to finish her sarcastic and witty joke back to Giles when the pictures on the front page caught her eye. Lined up in a row under a large picture of the devastation were the pictures of four smiling people. People that she had never expected to see in this way. Cordelia's picture was first, complete with her date of birth and the day that she died, then came Fred, Gunn, and finally the picture that was the reason that Faith abruptly halted her shot back to Giles before dropping the cell phone altogether. Half smiling back at her was the face of her former watcher, the man that had failed her. But as she looked at the picture it was not that thought that struck her hardest, instead it was the bottomless feeling that it was her fault, all her fault.

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Bearer Of Bad News

**CONSEQUENCES**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.**

**Author's Note: Nina is a part of Angel Investigations basically because other than her it's only Spike and Angel, is Angel's girlfriend that he wants to keep safe, and as someone new she could come in handy in certain situations… and Faith is single after she split up with Robin.**

**CHAPTER 4-BEARER OF BAD NEWS**

"I'm sorry Nina but you're not coming with us," Angel stated with a very loud and clear, but not threatening, tone of voice as he pulled a couple of duffel bags out of the closet. After the discussion downstairs in the lobby with Gwen and Spike Angel had come to a decision. He was going to find the axis of Pythia and no one was going to stop him.

"Says who," Nina shot back with a defiant glint in her eyes as she flung a pillow at Angel's head. Angel let the pillow smack him full on in the face before he responded.

"Says me, and that's all that you need to know," Angel snapped back with an angry growl as he glared across the bed at Nina, who looked admittedly shocked at Angel's reaction.

"So that's how it's going to be then huh, I'm just supposed to stay here because you say so…like a good little girl…," Nina proposed with a timber of uncertainness in her voice as she jammed her fists into the pockets of the bathrobe to keep from letting Angel see that they were shaking slightly.

"Yes, like a good little girl, look this isn't a game Cordelia…I don't want you there," Angel quickly shot back with a frustrated and overwhelmed scowl on his face as he threw some of his clothes down onto the bed and stalked around the foot of the bed.

"Cordelia…Angel what," Nina stuttered out with a very surprised enlarging of her eyes as she took a step back and kept herself upright by leaning on the dresser. It took only a split second after Nina had stopped talking for Angel to realize his mistake.

"I called you…Cordelia…why did I do that," Angel mumbled awkwardly to himself as he took a step back and slowly sat down on the end of the bed, leaving a skittish Nina to look on and wonder.

"Hell if I know…are you feeling okay, maybe…," Nina offered up with a worried look on her face as her nerves settled down enough for her to walk over and sit down on the end of the bed beside Angel.

"I'm going crazy just sitting here, I need to get to Europe and find the axis," Angel stated with a frustrated and anxious tone to his voice before he stood back up and shook his head.

"Right, and I'm going with you," Nina proclaimed with an excited look on her face as she stood up and took a step towards Angel.

He walked sullenly through the streets of Rome, caring not that the rain was soaking him clear through to the bone. On this sad, dreary, and lonely dark day he was to become the bearer of bad news. He had shed a tear himself when he had been alerted of their deaths. Faith's voice had been anything but the confidant tenor that it used to be. It was still scratchy but its power was barely holding itself together. She had shown indifference when telling him about Cordelia's death, a little regret about Fred's death. Gunn's death had been revealed with a bit of anger at another good fighter lost tone in her voice, but that all came to a screeching halt when she had alerted him to the last death. Her voice had uncharacteristically cracked as she whispered the name of her former watcher. Giles remember the description of Wesley that Faith had given him sometime after they had left Sunnydale far behind. The man that Faith had described to him sounded nothing like the young man that he had met that morning many years earlier in Sunnydale. His optimism and youthful exuberance seem to have been replaced by bitterness, self-loathing, and deep regret.

It had been Willow that had voiced an agreeing estimation of the former watcher. Giles could only guess what Faith had been doing in the meantime from when she had originally dropped the phone to when she had rung him up in the middle of the night several hours later. In the background he thought that he could hear the sound of glass falling onto glass, suggesting to him that possibly glass from a picture hung on the wall fell out and struck more glass that was already on the floor, not a good sign. He had tried to get Faith to talk but from her large amount of silence, and more than once saying that she should have been there to have helped, he reasoned that until she had a chance to calm down it wouldn't be prudent to push her into anything.

Giles didn't look up when he passed a few of the new slayers, undoubtedly on their way out for a little fun on the town. He didn't feel that they needed to be burdened with the news that he was carrying, they didn't know those that had fallen and he needed to save his energy for those that deserved to know. He walked up the steps slowly, hoping to come up with some way of breaking the unfortunate news to Buffy and the others without hurting them anymore than he had to. A smiling Xander open the door when Giles finally lifted his hand up and knocked.

"Hey Giles what's the good…Giles," Xander started to ask with a happy smile on his face, with one hand on the doorknob and the other filled with what looked like peanuts, before he caught wind of Giles' dripping wet clothes and beyond saddened frown.

"Is Buffy here," Giles asked calmly, instead of answering Xander's question as he walked into the apartment, but stayed close enough to the door so that he wouldn't drip onto any of Buffy's furniture.

"No, she had a dinner date with the Immortal, but Willow and Kennedy are here, I could…," Xander replied with a suddenly worried look on his face as he shut the door before he then walked over and emptied his hand of peanuts into a half full bowl.

"Get them please Alexander, this is important," Giles said softly, barely able to control his range of emotions as he slipped his glasses off and tried to clean them off.

"Okay…you sure you don't want a towel first you're dripping water all over the place, you know Giles there is this amazing tool called an umbrella…," Xander started to reply with a worried and confused look on his face before Giles angrily cut in.

"I know what an umbrella is Xander, but the gravity of this news propelled me to come over her immediately, thus I did not bring my umbrella with me…now would you get Willow and Kennedy in here and stop staring at my like some slack jawed…," Giles snapped with a frustrated and nervous scowl on his face as he put his glasses back on and then took a deep breath to try to calm down. Xander stared at him for a few moments before he turned and left the room down one of the hallways. While Xander was gone Giles slowly slipped his coat off and hung it up on the coat rack near the door.

"What's wrong Giles," Willow asked with a worried look of fear on her face as she walked into the room, Kennedy trailing a foot behind, looking as if she had just been woken up from a long nap.

"You had better sit down for this Willow, Kennedy…you to Xander…," Giles stated softly with a very pained and saddened expression on his face before he took one last deep breath and laid out the details as he knew them. Fifteen minutes later Buffy and Dawn would separately come home to find Xander staring aimlessly off into space through the far window while Willow muffled her sobs into her girlfriend's shoulder.

"You're making a mistake Angel, I can help you…," Nina announced with a pleading look on her face as she back slowly towards the Hyperion's front doors while Connor did his best to rub the stiffness out of his knee.

"You're better off staying out of this Nina, Wolfram and Hart will spare no expense to find me and Spike, I don't want you to get caught in the middle, so just take a cab to the airport and spend some time with your sister and niece, I'll call you when we get to Heathrow," Angel stated back with an uneasy look on his face as it hurt to push Nina away again but he felt that it was best for her sake if she stayed as far away from him and the others.

"Fine, you can be a real jerk sometimes you know that Angel…," Nina mumbled back with a sad and dejected pout on her face, even though she was trying her best to remain stoic, as she turned away from Angel, slung her duffel bag containing what few items of clothing that she had with her and stepped out of the Hyperion.

"All to well…," Spike quipped with a sly smirk on his face as he walked out of the office with a glass of blood in his hands.

"Now that Goldilocks is out of the picture we probably should figure out how we're actually going to get to England, I'm guessing that we won't be able to use one of your private jets to get us there…and the commercial liners are to bright…," Gwen interjected with a soft smile that curled up the edges of her lips before Angel stepped in.

"I'll think of something…I always do, but first things first, we should start off by…," Angel answered with a grim look of caution on his face as he lowered his head and began to pace across the lobby towards the counter before he was interrupted.

"Telling me what the hell is going on here…Spike," A raspy voice stated clearly with a strained and hurt tone to it before Angel and everyone else left in the lobby turned around to see Faith nervously step out of the kitchen before she stopped abruptly at the sight of Spike standing beside his grandsire. Angel paused for a moment in the stunned silence that was the room to take in the condition of the troubled slayer now only a few feet in front of him. Besides smelling of Wesley's soap Angel was very nearly bowled over and drowned in the enticing smell of regret and despair. Angelus had known the scent well over his decades of malice towards humanity. And Angel had unfortunately caught the scent many times since gaining his soul. But yet beyond the regret and despair there seemed to be something deeper going on behind her mask of unfamiliar feelings. He didn't quite know the scent, something mixed between pond scum and the blood of a newborn babe. From a quick glance before she shoved her shades further up the bridge of her nose Angel was able to see that both of Faith's eyes were red and bloodshot, most likely from little sleep and shedding more than a few tears.

"What are you doing here," Spike asked with a well-concealed look of surprise on his face as he slipped a glance over at Angel out of the corner of his eyes.

"I could ask you the same thing blondie, last I knew you were burning up in the Hellmouth," Faith shot back with an icy glare aimed directly at Spike over the top of her sunglasses.

"Yeah well…I got better," Spike retaliated with as he took a step forward and set his feet in preparation for anything.

"So who's the…," Gwen began to wonder with a pointed and daring frown on her face as she stared intently at Faith for a moment before turning to Angel.

"Faith…her name is Faith, she's a vampire slayer," Angel replied dryly with an unsure expression on his face as inwardly he felt that the entire situation was quickly spiraling wildly out of control.

"You know my name…seems only fair that I should know yours," Faith responded with a darkly carefree smile on her face before Angel gave her a second look, taking note that the oversized long sleeved shirt that she was wearing Wesley had worn not a week before, Angel remembered it clearly, mostly because of the remnants of pasta sauce stain on the left cuff.

"Obstinate over there's Gwen, Connor's the kid, and the bouncer's Groo," Spike replied with a bored but complacent smile on his face before he took a drink of blood. Spike kept pouring the blood down his throat as he ignored the glare that Gwen shot him.

"Good, now that we've all been introduced can we…," Angel groaned with an annoyed scowl on his face before a scream ripped through the lobby from somewhere outside. "Nina," Angel shouted with a panicked look of worry on his face before he took a step towards the Hyperion's front doors. He had only gone a couple more steps forward when a terrified Nina came tearing back through the doors, the glass in the doors being shattered by a spray of bullets. The shower of broken glass and bullets sent everyone to the floor, and Nina scrambled straightforward and barreled into Angel's chest. The two went down in an awkward ball before the first of many Molotov cocktails spun into the space, instantly setting anything that they touched on fire.

"Bloody hell…can't a bloke get a decent drink around here," Spike cursed with a startled and angry scowl on his face as he dropped the glass of blood in his hands and scrambled back behind the counter.

"Dad…," Connor called out with a very nervous and confused expression on his face as he crawled across the floor towards Angel and Nina, who were trying to sit up.

"Connor, are you," Angel asked with a scared and tense look on his face as Connor reached out and helped him up to his knees.

"I'm fine dad, what's going on," Connor replied and then asked with an impatient and anxious expression on his face before Nina cut in.

"It's Wolfram and Hart, they've found us…," Nina answered for Angel with a very worried and frantic look on her face as she scooted back on the floor away from the door before Angel fully realized what she had said.

"Wolfram and Hart, are you sure…," Angel wondered with a nervous look on his face as he and the others shakily got to their feet before Spike had to jump back to get out of the way of a quickly growing fire.

"Very…they had Wolfram and Hart on the doors of their trucks, not to mention the bulldozer," Nina quickly replied with a scared look on her face as she used the circular sofa to get back up to her feet.

"Bulldozer…damn," Faith wondered with a nervous look of surprise and disbelief on her face for a split second before a loud roar was heard outside.

"Well I'll say this for ya big guy, you certainly know how to piss people off…," Gwen shouted out with a heavily sarcastic tone to her voice as she peeked her head above the counter before the front entryway of the Hyperion was demolished by the bucket of a large bulldozer crashing through it, sending everything and everyone into chaos.

"So what now Giles…what do we do," Buffy asked, her voice shaking with fear and sadness, with a nervous and very tense look on her face as she sat down on the couch beside Willow.

"What do you mean Buffy, this is unprecedented," Giles replied with an unsure and slightly confused look on his face as he took a deep breath.

"I don't know…I just have a serious need to hit something and…," Buffy replied with a frustrated and scared smile on her face as she balled her hands up into fists and looked ready to go ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

"I don't really think that there's anything that we can do Buffy, they're gone and nothing that we do or say is going to change that…," Giles stated with a very sad and somber frown on his face as he glanced up at the clock and wondered how they had all gotten into the mess that they now found themselves in.

"But how could this have happened without us knowing about it," Willow finally asked, with tears running down her cheeks and stinging her eyes, as she turned away from Kennedy long enough to pose the question.

"Did they call about this Giles, I mean if Fred's been gone for awhile wouldn't they have called…," Xander wondered with a saddened frown on his face as at the small table Dawn passed a sniffling Andrew a tissue. Giles stiffened up a bit and sat silently in his chair for a few moments before he looked up at Xander and answered.

"Uh no Xander, for whatever reason they didn't call for help about any of this, I'm as confused and stunned by this as you are," Giles answered with an anxious look on his face as he shook his head and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Did Faith say anything else…other than that they're gone," Dawn asked with a sad expression on her face as she scooted her chair back and slowly stood up.

"Not very much…their deaths seemed to hit her harder than I thought, Wesley's death seemed to hit her the hardest, she sounded almost as if she owed him a debt that now she would never be able to repay him…but other than that she said that she was going to check out the Hyperion and get back to me," Giles replied with a nervous and worried smile on his face as he leaned back in his chair and wondered what Faith was doing at that exact moment.

"That still doesn't explain anything though…what could Faith owe Wesley, I mean he was a terrible watcher, if anything he should owe her…," Xander interrupted with a confused look on his face as he plopped down in the other chair and stared at the edge of the coffee table.

"Like many situations in this life Xander, I believe that there is far more to their relationship than any of us are aware of…," Giles guessed with a grim and regretful frown on his face before he stood up and walked off into the kitchen, absentmindedly beginning to search for something.

"I think there's far more to all of this than any of us is aware of, none of this fits, if Angel was having trouble he would have called me, I know it…he wouldn't have tried to have done all of this by himself," Buffy stated with a very forcing herself to be confidant look on her face as she stood up and began to pace around the room.

"Says who Buff, you know as well as I do that Angel's about as stubborn as they come, if he thought that he could handle it he wouldn't let anyone help…let alone us," Xander added with a nervous frown on his face as he looked up from the edge of the table.

"Well yeah but…," Buffy stammered out with a hurt and somber frown on her face before Dawn brightened up and interrupted.

"What about Wolfram and Hart…they have a branch here in Rome don't they, maybe they'd know something," Dawn announced with an optimistic and hopeful smile on her face as she stood up and patted a still sniffling Andrew on the shoulder.

"You're right Dawn…maybe I should head over there and ask them a few questions, maybe try to get some answers…," Buffy said back with a slightly less nervous and hurt look on her face before Giles broke in.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Buffy, I doubt that Wolfram and Hart will tell you anything…," Giles said softly as he started to interrupt before Buffy jumped back in and interrupted him.

"I know Giles…that's why you're going with me," Buffy stated with a rather pleased smile on her face before she turned on her heel and walked off into her bedroom.

END OF CHAPTER 4


	5. The Quickening

**CONSEQUENCES**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the new ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 5-THE QUICKENING**

Angel scrambled out of the way, pulling an almost frantic Nina behind him. Connor didn't need to be told to vacate the area as he quickly limped away from the bulldozer and hauled himself up and over the counter. Spike frantically searched the area around him for a weapon but soon gave up the hopeless pursuit. He knew that there wasn't anything in the hotel that could stand up to a bulldozer. Groo seemed fixed in stone for a moment, staring oddly at the bulldozer, looking as if he were about to compare it to something from Pylea when Gwen grabbed his collar and angrily hauled him back towards the counter.

"What now," Spike shouted with an angry scowl on his face as the bulldozer backed up a bit and then smashed some more of the front of the building.

"We have to get out of here," Connor quickly added with a fearful and still confused look on his face as the top of the counter was lit ablaze by a Molotov cocktail.

"No shit…follow me," Gwen interjected with a very serious look on her face as she pushed off of Angel and Spike's shoulders to get back up to her feet.

"Where are we going…," Nina asked, still trying to figure out exactly what was going on, before a doped up looking vampire walked into the lobby, with his entire body taped up with explosives.

"Anywhere but here," Angel exclaimed as he grabbed Nina with one arm and pushed Connor forward with the other on his way towards the back of the Hyperion before the explosive laden vampire blew himself up. The ragtag group scrambled through the kitchen, knocking anything and everything off of the shelves and onto the floor as they went. Angel kicked open the back door and ran for cover under the overhang where two cars were parked. One of them Angel didn't recognize, the other however was one of his special cars from Wolfram and Hart that he had left there, just in case.

"Running away's not exactly our style Angel," Spike quipped with a sarcastic but yet serious smirk on his face as he dashed after Angel, who was helping Nina and Connor get in.

"You got a better idea Spike…we're getting our asses kicked here, we won't last much longer if we stay here," Angel shot back with an angry sneer on his face as he momentarily thought about staking the younger vampire but stopped when Gwen interrupted.

"Just follow me, I'll get us to the airport, and whatever you do…don't look back," Gwen shouted over subsequent explosions that came from within the hotel before Angel turned and noticed a burning car that was crumpled up in the far corner.

"My car…," Angel grumbled with a very annoyed scowl on his face as he recognized the license plate of the burning car.

"We'll send them the bill later Peaches, come on get in," Spike growled loudly as he ripped open the passenger side door and dove in. Angel clenched his hands into fists and his whole body shook in anger for almost a second before he turned back around and slid into the drivers seat, gunning the engine and roaring off after Gwen, hoping that Wolfram and Hart wouldn't follow them, but he was wrong.

"I don't know what you hope to gain here Buffy, all that they're going to do is lie to you," Giles said with a skeptical and unsure frown on his face as he paid for the cab fare over and turned to Buffy.

"You might be right Giles, but I have to at least try," Buffy replied with a nervous smile on her face as she took a deep breath and straightened out her blouse. After moving to Italy and beginning to date the Immortal Buffy had come into possession of a great sum of money, enough to at least buy new clothes for herself and Dawn. Chief among the new clothes was a proper business suit. And tonight Buffy wore that suit for the very first time.

"Do you think that they're even going to talk to us," Giles asked with an impatient and nervous tone to his voice as he slid his hand underneath his coat and comfortingly felt the smooth metal edge of one of the guns that he had armed himself with for just this kind of occasion.

"Oh I think they will…I do have a way of making people talk," Buffy quipped back with a sly smile on her face, that hid well her tremendously nervous and scared inner self, before she began to walk towards the front doors.

"That was in Sunnydale, this is Rome, and we're not at Willy's, we're dealing with Wolfram and Hart here, this is the big leagues," Giles reminded Buffy with an almost fatherly look of caution on his face as he adjusted his tie and prepared for the worst.

"I know Giles, that's why I have a backup plan, if they don't want to talk then we'll just fly to LA and see for ourselves," Buffy said back with a determined look on her face as she walked up to the front doors and made her way inside.

No one noticed her presence, seeing her only as simply one more street urchin, if they saw her at all. They did not take the time to notice that she was very nearly covered in blood. But much of the blood was not her own. The majority of the blood on her body belonged to those of her victims, those demons that she had obliterated during her last battle. She had remained unconscious ever since the end of the battle, not knowing its full outcome. She lay there, partially hidden in amongst the many bags of trash that had been thrown out and then collected along the roadside. Her head swam with a tidal wave of memories and recollections as she regained consciousness.

"Where am I, I am not familiar with this place," She said with a contemplative and slightly confused look on her face as she slowly and painfully lifted her head up out of the muck and looked around. She was about to get up when she noticed something odd. Her hair was no longer a light shade of brown but instead a bright orange. Cautiously she lifted her hands up to her face and noticed a tattoo of a rose on the interior of her left wrist and her fingernails were painted the same color as her hair. But what confused her more was when she looked down. Gone was the lithe and wisp like shell once known as Winifred Burkle, in its place was a figure that more closely resembled a video game or comic book character's body, and with it barely enough clothing to cover her now much more ample physique, and all of it the same odd bright orange as her hair, complete with a small tag that read, "Orange Crush" . Grimacing at the pain in her head she crawled out of the trash pile only moments before a wave of memories sent her reeling into a dirty puddle. As she choked on the water and blinked her eyes a couple of times to try and clear them one thought came to her, "I am Illyria."

"Well that was a big waste of time," Buffy fumed with an angry scowl on her face as she angrily stormed back out onto the patio in front of the high rise. She and Giles had been ushered into the building and met with the head of the Italian branch of Wolfram and Hart. A seemingly friendly woman who had irked Giles' almost from the get go by constantly referring to gypsies in one derogatory mention after another, and she spit a lot.

"How dare she say such things, gypsies are not…," Giles added to Buffy's venting with a furious scowl on his face as he forcefully clamped his briefcase shut and kicked at a wilted leaf.

"Easy Giles, don't have a heart attack…," Buffy quickly exclaimed with a worried look on her face as she tried to keep from hitting someone.

"Yes…because that would be a tragedy," A sing song voice stated from out near the bushes as Buffy and Giles both jumped in surprise and spun around to confront the speaker, with Buffy scrambling to get in a defensive posture. "What did you do with my boys, we used to have so much fun, but then you had to come along and take them from me," Drusilla asked with an impatient and drugged scowl on her face as she stepped out of the bushes, clutching a motley looking doll close to her.

"Drusilla…what are you doing here," Buffy shouted out, more as a challenge than a question, as she and Giles quickly looked around to make sure that this was not a trap.

"Ms. Edith has been a very naughty girl, I thought that daddy could teach her a lesson, but then he…," Drusilla started to say with a dazed look of anger on her face before several suited men from Wolfram and Hart rounded the corner.

"You shouldn't be out here Miss Drusilla, you're not well," The leader of the group stated with a less than thrilled frown on his face before the rest of his group led Dru away and into the building.

"Where are you taking her," Giles demanded with a frustrated and nervous look on his face as he stepped forward and got in the way of the leader.

"That is none of your business, I would advise you both to vacate the premises, we have a company policy to shoot loiterers," The man said with an amused smirk on his face before he leaned to one side and walked past Giles into the building.

"Well that was…freaky," Buffy stated with an odd frown on her face as she looked back at the front doors of the Wolfram and Hart tower before a car pulled up with Andrew at the wheel.

"Yes it most certainly was, but we should go before they make good on their threat," Giles added with a serious look on his face as he took a deep breath while Andrew waived a friendly hello.

"Are you sure about this," Nina asked with a concerned look on her face as she and Angel, arm in arm trying their best to look like a couple going through the airport on the first leg of their honeymoon, made their way through security and then out into a hanger on the edge of the airport.

"Not really, but right now we don't really have a choice, if Gwen says that she can get us to England then we have to trust her, at least for now," Angel replied with a nervous and tense look of frustration on his face as he held open a gate for Nina to pass through.

"Good because we only have a couple of days before I'm going to need to be locked up every night and…," Nina said back with a scared and worried look on her face as she nervously checked her watch and brushed some stray strands of hair back behind her ear to keep the wind from whipping them across her face.

"Kept from hurting, maiming, or killing anyone…God Angel you sure seem to date the weird ones," Spike quipped with a sly smile on his face as he took out a cigarette and lit it up, if only to calm his nerves.

"Okay…I'm lost here, what…does she become some sort of homicidal maniac every so often or…," Faith asked with a bewildered and slightly hung over scowl on her face, as she impatiently rubbed the small medallion that she wore on a gold chain around her neck.

"I wish…actually I'm a werewolf," Nina answered with a sheepish and somewhat embarrassed smile on her face as Faith's eyes widened right off the bat before they narrowed to concerned slits before Angel pulled her aside.

"Everything will be fine Faith, yes Nina is a werewolf, every time that she changes she's been locked up in one of the cells at Wolfram and Hart, at least until morning and she changes back…it's for everyone's safety," Angel whispered with a very serious and tone to his voice before Faith got a word in edgewise.

"Guess you're really finally over B then…gotta say that I never saw this coming," Faith shot back in a daring whisper that brought a smile to her face.

"You wanna know what I never saw coming Faith, you showing up at the Hyperion wearing some of Wesley's clothes and smelling like you slept with him…," Angel countered with a sly grin on his face as a few feet away Nina kept checking out the window to make sure that they weren't being followed while Spike turned away but snickered as he could hear every word. Faith hesitated and momentarily averted her gaze before speaking.

"As if…look Angel I came here on Giles' orders to check you out, see if you'd gone over to the dark side, I stopped by Wes' apartment first…he wasn't home so I took a shower, had a beer and got some sleep…what's wrong with that," Faith declared with an angry scowl on her face as she kept her hand up at the medallion, her thumb constantly softly rubbing over the surface.

"Nothing's wrong about that…on the surface anyway, but…where did you get that," Angel started to reply with a frustrated feeling rising up within him before he cocked an eyebrow and noticed how Faith's hand had not left the medallion that she wore around her neck from the moment that they stepped into the hanger.

"What this…it's nothing, just found it at Wes', don't really think he'll miss it…," Faith tried to say back with a carefree and prideful smile on her face but Angel could see regret and sadness struggling to pull the smile down into a frown.

"Back to stealing again…," Angel grumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face as he leaned in a bit closer to Faith, who almost protectively wrapped her full hand around the medallion, before Nina spoke up.

"Here she comes," Nina exclaimed with a bit of fear, confusion, and relief in her voice as she took a step forward and laid a hand on Angel's shoulder.

"Wolfram and Hart guards are trying to get through security so we don't have any time to waste," Gwen announced with a nervous smile on her face as she set her gaze firmly on Angel.

"We should all get on board," Groo added with an innocent smile on his face as he first looked to Angel and then to Spike.

"Uh board what mate, this hanger's…," Spike started to say with a sarcastic and unhappy frown on his face before a line of lights lit up and unveiled a small plane that looked to be only a bit larger than the one that Angel and Spike had taken a few weeks earlier.

"We're going in that," Connor interrupted with a nervous and skeptical look on his face as he limped forward and looked the plane over.

"You got a problem with that kid, because if you do then you can stay here and have a nice talk with the goons that are trying to kill us," Gwen snapped back with a less than impressed and thrilled expression on her face as she glared at Connor.

"It'll be fine Gwen, but where…how…," Angel stepped in with a scolding glare sent Gwen's way before he posed the questions that were on almost everyone's minds.

"Relax, we're not stealing it if that's what you're spazzing about, I took on a job from a guy in Russia, where I met Groo here, and he wanted me to fly here and pick something up for him, afterwards the plane was how I was supposed to get back," Gwen stated with a restraining and somewhat nervous look on her face as she held her hands up defensively as if she thought that she was being accused of stealing the plane.

"Great plan luv, except that there's just one small problem, who's gonna fly the plane…you," Spike asked with a sly grin on his face as he flicked some ashes off the end of his cigarette onto the floor.

"The pilots…duh," Gwen shot back with a scolding sneer on her face as she stalked up to Spike and glared at him straight in the eye.

"Oh…yeah…of course," Spike mumbled softly with a defeated look of embarrassment on his face, that he tried well to hide, as he took a step back and took another drag on his cigarette.

"So what are we waiting for, let's go," Connor interrupted quickly with a nervous and hurried look on his face as he began to limp towards the plane, just as a door on the side of the plane opened up and a middle aged man began to push a rolling set of stairs towards the plane. Within a few moments Angel and the others boarded the plane and shut out all of the light so that Angel and Spike could get some sleep, without having to worry about going up in flames. Angel's last conscious memory before falling asleep was Faith curled up asleep in her seat, holding onto the medallion for seemingly dear life.

"They didn't tell you anything," A worried Dawn asked as she crossed her arms and sat down on the couch beside Buffy.

"Not really, the lady that we talked to said that it was most unfortunate about what happened to Angel and the others…and that the gypsies were probably to blame…," Buffy replied with a nervous frown on her face before she yawned deeply and checked her watch.

"That woman…," Giles began to mutter with a visibly angry scowl on his face as he clenched his hands into fists before he noticed that the others were staring and he forced himself to calm down.

"But she did say something then…what exactly did she say," Willow asked with a quick nervous glance Giles' way before she turned her full attention to Buffy, awaiting a response with her laptop on and ready to type down Buffy's every word.

"She said that Angel and the others went up against the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart, and that they were dealt with accordingly, whatever that means," Buffy answered softly with a confused and steadily growing look of concern on her face before Giles cut in.

"I haven't been able to contact Faith since she informed me about Wesley and the others," Giles announced with a grim frown on his face as he set about cleaning his glasses.

"I wonder how she's taking it, she was closer to Angel then most of us…," Xander added with a concerned and apprehensive expression on his face before he took a sip of his glass of apple juice.

"I believe not well Xander, my only hope is that she can…at least temporarily, put her feelings aside and find something…anything, that will help us figure out exactly what happened," Giles add with a look of great concern on his face as he reached out and picked up his glass of apple juice that until that moment he had regarded as if it weren't there.

"Hey guys look, they say someone survived what happened in LA, they're bringing her to the hospital right now," Andre exclaimed as he raced into the living room before flipping on the television and settling down right in front of it. As she was about to hurl an angry word or two Andrew's way Buffy stopped when she saw what Andrew had been talking about. The image on the screen was of a team of paramedics rushing a young woman out of an ambulance and into the hospital. But what struck Buffy the most about this was how much the injured young woman looked like her, right down to the small frame and blonde hair.

END OF CHAPTER 5

Author's Note: The changes that Illyria has undergone will be explained and they're not that far fetched, given how Illyria can't select his/her next host, but take the first available body. I'm sorry if there aren't any section breaks in between when I write about Angel and his group and Buffy and her group, I put marks in to note the seperation when I type the pieces but then when I post the story they disappear.


	6. What A Difference A New Shell Can Make

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 6-WHAT A DIFFERENCE A NEW SHELL CAN MAKE.**

The plane landed safely on a dark and secluded runway. Connor and Groo had taken the window seats, with their faces glued to the windows as the plane approached the runway and set down. Spike and Angel on the other hand stayed in their seats in the middle of the plane and made absolutely no effort to look out of any window. Faith had slept almost the entire trip, with her hand never leaving the medallion and more than once Gwen could have sworn that she mumbled Wesley's name in her sleep with a tone of voice that seemed to suggest that she was having trouble dealing with his death. Nina had slept off and on during the trip, finding a place for herself, snuggled up next to Angel. Gwen had busied herself with making preparations for lodgings for the large group upon their arrival in London. Upon touching down Angel seemed to be about as anxious as a small boy on his first day of school while Spike almost seemed uncomfortable to be home.

"What now…," Connor asked with a look of awe on his face as he slowly limped off of the plane and shuddered as a cool wind blew over them from outside of the small hanger.

"Now we…make ourselves scarce," Nina replied with a nervous look on her face before she yawned deeply and her eyelids drooped a bit as she leaned up against Angel.

"You sure…after all that I could really use a spot of violence," Spike stated with a very serious and anxious smile on his face as he looked about ready to walk straight out of the hanger and into the nearest bar fight before Angel stopped him.

"No one's going anywhere Spike, at least not alone," Angel interjected with a very stern and uncompromising expression on his face as he gingerly made his way over towards a set of stairs and sat down.

"Fine then, I'll take Groo with me and we'll paint the town red," Spike shot back with a nervous but excited grin on his face before he stiffly spun around on his heel and marched off towards the hanger door while Gwen conferred with the pilots.

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She did not remember how she had come to be in this place. She was no longer sprawled out on the corner, face down in a pool of muddy water. Instead she could vaguely remember someone helping her to take a shower and get cleaned up before dressing her wounds and putting her to bed. Illyria did not like to be needy of anyone, save for Wesley. But he was gone now, sent to a place where she could not follow or endeavor to retrieve him from. Instead she opened her eyes to find herself wrapped snuggly in a warm bed with a thick blanket wrapped around her coupled with a beautiful, and rather busty and nude, blonde. During her brief time spent learning about the world from Wesley Illyria had learned about many of the different kinds of relationships that existed between humans. She had been a good student, mostly because she was gaining information on whom at that time she still thought of as the enemy, looking for any way to undermine them.

"This does not make sense…," Illyria stated with a confused and thoughtful look on her face as she painfully sat up, not caring if she woke her companion. With aching knees, back, and shoulders Illyria slid out of bed, cocking a disbelieving eyebrow after she looked in a nearby mirror and fully took in the differences between her two shells. She remembered the left over feelings that had been left by the host of her first shell and wondered if her former host had left any residual feelings and drives in this new shell. When the beautiful blonde mumbled something in her sleep and rolled over onto her back still fast asleep, letting the blanket slip fully away Illyria got her answer.

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"Maybe we should question that woman, the one that they pulled out of the rubble," Xander offered up with an optimistic and helpful look on his face in between bites of Frosted Flakes.

"Good plan Xander…really, oh wait…she's in a coma," Dawn exclaimed with a wickedly sarcastic grin on her face through a mouthful of cereal herself.

"Well it was still a good thought…right," Xander hoped with a scared look of hope on his face as he looked around the room, desperately searching for support.

"Oh course it was Xander…now be a good boy and eat your breakfast," Willow joked with a warmly sincere smile on her face as she walked from the refrigerator over to the table and lightly patted him on the shoulder. To this Xander grumbled through his next spoonful of cereal.

"But seriously guys we need to do something, Faith hasn't reported back for hours, I'm worried about her," Buffy said with a tired look on her face before she picked up and buttered her piece of toast.

"Come on guys, this is Faith we're talking about here right, she probably had a long night and is fast asleep in bed," Xander began with a bored frown on his face before he took another spoonful of cereal.

"Which is right where you'd like to be," Dawn mumbled softly under her breath with a cheesy grin on her face, getting Buffy to half turn away so that she could smile while Willow tried to look as if she hadn't heard Dawn say anything at all.

"I do not believe that is the case, however I am hopeful that she will contact me soon," Giles replied with a stifled yawn before he sat down at the table and rubbed his eyes.

"I think she will…although I have a funny feeling that it won't be from where you expect…," Willow said softly with a trance like look on her face before she recovered and shook her head, smiling awkwardly at everyone.

"Anyway…do we have a bead on that new girl Giles," Buffy asked quickly, hoping to take some of the heat off of Willow, who seemed to be a bit out of it.

"Uh…yes actually we do, her name is Morgan Adams, she should be arriving from Florida sometime later today," Giles answered before Willow walked over and poured him a cup of tea.

"Do we have a place for her to stay yet, because I don't care what you say I am not sharing my room again…," Dawn stated emphatically with a very certain frown on her face before she took another spoonful of cereal.

"We have a room waiting for her yes Dawn, but she probably won't arrive until tonight, her flight stops over in London for a few hours," Giles said with an appreciative smile on his face as Willow handed him his cup of tea before doing her best to stifle a giant yawn while Kennedy came around the corner, looking still half asleep and not to happy at waking up alone.

"Hey baby…sorry about not waking you but…," Willow said softly with a sincere look of regret on her face as she walked over and kissed her girlfriend lightly on the cheek.

"Whatever…," Kennedy grumbled with an unhappy look on her face before she, still half asleep, staggered across the kitchen and began to search for a cup of coffee.

"Yeesh, don't you people have any liquor, even one of those light beers would do…," An oddly familiar voice to Buffy stated before Buffy turned around and caught sight of someone going through the refrigerator.

"Excuse me," Buffy questioned with a confused look on her face before the person stood up with a bottle of local beer in his hands.

"Buffy…," Xander asked with a confused look on his face as he half turned around in his chair and looked at where Buffy was looking, but to him he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Just here for a little visit toots, got a few items on the ole agenda, kind of important ones at that," Whistler joked with an immature grin on his face before he popped the top off of the beer and hopped up onto the counter.

"What are you…," Buffy began to say with a slightly threatened scowl on her face as she stood up and pushed her chair back.

"Buffy," Dawn whimpered with a scared look on her face as she first looked to Buffy before looking at everyone else in the room, desperately hoping that someone could provide an answer to Buffy's behavior.

"See like last time I figured this for ole Angel's bid day…but then you came along, only this time it wasn't entirely your fault and we did see you coming, except that this time you turned your back on Angel right when he really needed you," Whistler answered with a sad and sullen pout on his face as his countenance suddenly changed to that of a small child that had just lost his puppy.

"I did not turn my back on…," Buffy started to growl with a quickly growing scowl of anger on her face as she balled her hands up into fists while the others in the room continued to act as if they thought that Buffy had lost it, with Kennedy still holding the cupboard door open.

"That's what they all say, Benedict Arnold tried to tell me the very same thing, Brutus and Cassius to…but no matter what idea you have going around in that pretty little head of yours the truth is that you did turn your back on Angel when he really needed you, they all really needed your help, but Rupes over there kept putting Angel on hold when he called, so Angel finally had no choice but to give up on you helping him…sending Andrew there to rip his heart out all over again by telling him that you didn't trust him anymore was a stroke of genius…sick, but a stroke of genius nonetheless," Whistler answered slowly in between sips of his beer as Buffy stood there, suddenly quite flabbergasted and feeling as if more than just the rug had been jerked out from under her.

"B…but he said…," Buffy stammered out, now close to tears, as she took a few fragile steps forward and let her hands slip out of fists and they began to shake ever so slightly.

"What…you think he's never lied before…he killed that Ben guy to, never told you about that either I see, man that guy's full of surprises, but speaking of surprised honey…ole Angel didn't go bad, he was trying to change the beast from the inside out, and when he found that he had gotten in way over his head he called the one person…the one person, in this entire universe that he believed would never turn him down…kinda makes ya wonder how they felt when he found out he was wrong…," Whistler replied with a matter of fact frown on his face before at the end he hung his head and sadly shook it.

"No…," Buffy mumbled with tears now trickling down her cheeks as she reached the counter and leaned heavily on it, not noticing that Giles had risen from his chair and Willow was already starting to chant the words to a spell aimed at revealing the unrevealed.

"Yeah…but Angel wasn't the only one that you hurt, he was just the beginning, what happened in Sunnydale…that was only the beginning…," Whistler stated sadly with a hurt frown on his face as he slowly slid off of the counter and set the beer on the table before he disappeared. Moments later both of Buffy's hands were tightly wrapped around her watcher's neck. It took the combined might of everyone in the room to pry her off, with Buffy finally collapsing into Xander's arms and soaking the front of his shirt with her tears.

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"Wonder if they'd mind…," Spike quipped with a sly grin on his face as he eyed a grand piano from across the bar while Angel and Nina sat on stools nearby.

"Don't even think about it William, we're trying to blend in remember, not indulge in whims…," Angel growled under his breath, using Spike's human name when others were around in hopes of not attracting anyone's attention that only knew them by their vampiric names.

"Ah come on Liam, let him…besides it could be fun, I mean look at these people, they look like they want to dance…," Nina added with a warm smile on her face as she turned her full attention to Angel, still feeling a bit awkward at calling Angel and Spike by their human names.

"Since when was this open for debate, sit still and shut up Spi…William," Angel grumbled loudly with a quickly growing level of annoyance as it was clear that Spike was intentionally trying his patience.

"Well there's no need to get shirty about it," Spike declared with a sad pout on his face as he leaned forward and took a sip of his drink.

"Alright people we have rooms, Angel Nina here's your key, Connor and Spike can take the second one and…," Gwen announced with a relieved and tired smirk on her face as she walked into the lounge, first tossing one key to Angel, one to Spike, before she twirled the last key around on the tip of her index finger while eyeing Groo hungrily.

"Why do I have to share with him," Connor objected with an angry scowl on his face as he lightly limped into the lounge and pulled up a stool next to Nina, who pulled her drink a little further towards Angel as he did so.

"Because it's better if we stay together, look at it this way…you two can get a chance to bond," Angel quickly replied with a tired but sly grin on his face as Nina did her best to try not to laugh.

"Whatever…but I make my own rules these days," Spike stated with a very certain and serious look on his face as he pushed off of the stool and walked over to the empty piano and sat down.

"What's he doing," Groo asked with a slightly nervous and confused look on his face as he walked over and slid onto Spike's vacated stool.

"His own thing, like always," Angel mumbled with a bored look on his face, as he didn't budge from looking the exact opposite direction that Spike was to him.

"Can he play," Gwen asked with a stifled yawn as she leaned back up against the bar and ordered a drink.

"Who cares, come on Nina let's go," Angel stated with a fed up look of frustration on his face before he slipped off of his stool and headed for the exit, just as Spike began to play a soft tune and a young woman walked into the lounge.

"Aren't you a little young to be in here," Gwen quipped with a sly grin on her face as she took her drink from the bartender and took a sip. Her words got a cautious response from the young woman.

"Hey…I'm old enough," The young woman stated proudly back with an annoyed scowl on her face as she slipped a few bills out of her pocket. Connor stared at her oddly, getting a sneaky wink from Gwen before the young woman stepped up to the bar and ordered. After looking carefully at the young woman for a few seconds the bartender slowly got her a drink.

"By what, five minutes," Gwen joked back before the young woman slipped out of her coat and slid onto the only open stool left.

"I'm almost twenty okay, so enough with the age jokes okay," The woman said with a tired frown on her face before she absentmindedly scratched an old scar on her side that Connor watched with some fascination. Her shirt came down to about an inch or two above her pierced bellybutton and there was a tattoo of a rose on the small of her back.

"I'll think about it," Gwen shot back with a strong look in her eyes before she took another sip of her own drink while Spike switched songs that he was playing on the piano and started a salsa style number.

"See that you do," The woman stated back with a restless look on her face as she glanced up at the clock and then over at Connor, before long trying to not make it look like she was staring at Connor out of the corner of her eyes even though she was. With a nervous half grin on her face she was glad that she had decided to dress conservatively, at least for her, before she left Miami. Spike continued playing for almost two more hours before the sun went fully down and moments later Spike took a useless deep breath and stopped playing. "He's pretty good, who is he," The woman asked Connor softly as she leaned in a bit closer and Connor found it hard to keep his eyes on hers and not let them drop down a bit to the top of her shirt, one that she had left the top few button's unbuttoned and made for a hard to resist place for Connor's gaze.

"A friend," Connor replied softly, his cheesy smile quickly slipping off of his face after he saw the look in the woman's eyes as she watched Spike's every movie as he stood up and stretched his legs a bit.

"So then you know if he…," The woman continued with a nervous half smile on her face as she bit her bottom lip before speaking.

"He's free…," Connor replied grumpily as he turned away from the woman and took a large drink from his own glass.

"Good," The woman stated with a very interested and excited smile on her face before she took one last sip of her drink and slid off of her stool and headed towards Spike. Doing his best to reign in his temper Connor lazily looked over at her coat and took notice of nothing but her name, Morgan Adams.

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"Alright Giles, I'm only going to ask you this once, and you'd better tell me what I want to hear…," Buffy threatened with a very serious look on her face as she forcefully paced back and forth in the middle of her living room after having called the Immortal and canceled their date for that night. She had done her best to sound as if something serious had come up that she couldn't miss and she fervently hoped that he had bought her excuse.

"It was never my intent to…," Giles began to say with a nervous but confidant look on his face and tone to his voice as he sat up in his chair and crossed his arms.

"I really don't care about that right now Giles, now here's the question, did Angel ever call you for help…and…and if so why did you not tell us," Buffy continued with a restrained look of anger on her face before she finally stopped pacing long enough to glare menacingly down at Giles.

"Yes, Angel did call asking for our aid in a matter, but I thought that it was only a ploy to get information, I didn't know that he was serious about it, I swear Buffy that if I had known that he was telling me the absolute truth I would have come to you," Giles stated slowly and calmly as his gaze never left Buffy's while the others all tried to silently take stock of the admission.

"So is there anything else…any other little secret that you, or anyone else…would like to tell me…anyone back from the dead that we don't know about…Andrew…," Buffy spat out with a very frustrated and overwhelmed look on her face before she cast a death glare over at the former nerd, who was in the midst of unwrapping a giant sucker on his way to his room to play his newest video game, Crash Bandicoot.

"Um…well actually uh…nope," Andrew stammered out with a very nervous and scared look on his face before he finished unwrapping his sucker and quickly popped it into his mouth. Before Buffy could ask him another question he had raced into his room and locked the door behind him.

END OF CHAPTER 6

Author's Note: There are some differences for Illyria on a possibly temporary level, some will like them and some will hate them, Illyria wanted to experience something in her "Fred" shell, because of Fred's leftover feelings for Wesley, but wasn't able to…but now…hopefully this will all make sense. All in all another step on Illyria's journey to understanding humanity.


	7. 10 Things To Do In London When You're De...

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 7-10 THINGS TO DO IN LONDON WHEN YOU'RE DEAD**

She didn't know what it was, but ever since she had slipped into her hotel room, one that Gwen had at first forgotten to purchase, Faith could not stop looking at the intricately carved medallion. Luckily for her the chain that she wore it on was long enough for her to leave it around her neck and still get a good look at both sides of it. At the current time she sat on the side of her bed, still glistening wet from an overly hot shower, with her towel lying nearby and letting herself air dry. In truth she had started to dry off the medallion first before she had looked closer at the carvings on both sides and felt as if she had been there before. Angel had knocked on her door a few moments earlier on his way up to his room with Nina asking her if she was okay but Faith had only grunted something back in reply with a hope that Angel would accept that as her answer. Every time that she touched the medallion a vision of Wesley seemed to flash through her mind. Unlike many of her memory's of Wesley this vision brought with it no feeling of regret or fear but instead mostly a great sense of loneliness and sadness. The loneliness tore at her heart as to her she had caused much of his loneliness. After some time Faith had saw what she had at first thought was some paint on the one side of the medallion, but upon closer inspection she had decided that it was blood instead, most likely Wesley's blood.

On what could be considered the face or heads side of the circular medallion was carved what looked like a giant snowflake. The snowflake had been carved very carefully and thoughtfully into the heavy metal. The snowflake had been coated with something that had made it turn black, however Faith had noticed that when she glanced at the medallion in the mirror the snowflake looked whiter than pure snow. When she touched the face side of the medallion the feelings of loneliness and sadness nearly overwhelmed her. However when she touched the other or tails side of the medallion the exact opposite feelings overwhelmed her, so in turn she had ended up holding onto both sides of the medallion at the same time, hoping that the two sides would cancel each other out. The tails side of the medallion was carved to look like a snowflake, only instead of being black this snowflake was pure white, but again she had found that when she looked at the tails side in the mirror it would turn pitch black. That discovery had confused her enough so that she had forgone asking Giles or Angel about it. Lazily yawning, and with her eyelids becoming strangely heavy, Faith reluctantly switched on the radio on the nightstand beside her bed and crawled under the covers. All without drying off or putting anything on, even though she had picked up a few things at a shop a couple of blocks from the hotel. As she drifted off to sleep her dreams were filled with what could have been and what could still be.

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"We should get moving, we have to figure out what happened to the axis," Angel stated with an anxious scowl on his face as he huddled in the entryway of a pub while Faith scratched the back of the medallion with her eyes closed and a smile etched on her face.

"We could ask around, although that could throw up a red flag with the whole hiding plan if someone that we talk to is connected to Wolfram and Hart," Spike replied with a very serious look on his face as he scowled up at the night sky and shook his head.

"Then we're just going to have to be discreet about it okay," Gwen prodded with a frustrated pout on her face as she watched several locals walk by them, all staring at them with nervous looks on their faces.

"Way to go Peaches, we're only here five minutes and you've already alienated half the locals," Spike joked with an amused grin on his face, one that Faith soon matched before she spoke up.

"So we going to sit here all night and freeze our collective asses off or are we going to actually do something," Faith quipped with a bored grin on her face as she was already eyeing a couple of taverns as she slipped the medallion fully back under her shirt, positioning it directly in the middle of her chest.

"So what's the story with her and that trinket, she hasn't taken it off since I met her…," Gwen whispered softly to Angel as she took a step closer to him and tried to look as if she wasn't talking about the rogue slayer.

"I don't know, she says that she found it at Wesley's apartment, I know that he took home a lot of the more sensitive items that he didn't feel comfortable with leaving in his office at Wolfram and Hart so it could be anything…," Angel answered softly with a look of caution on his face as he crossed his arms and was glad when Faith half turned away in an instant and looked as if she thought that she saw someone that she knew well. Though he saw Faith turn he did not fully know why.

She was trying her best to stay out of Gwen and Angel's whispered conversation but had caught enough of it to know that they were talking about her. She had been about to say something when a familiar face caught her attention. But the identity of that person was impossible, he was dead. To her amazement it seemed that Wesley walked right by her without even looking up or slowing down. In fact he seemed to speed up as he came within five paces of her. She started to call out to him but her words died in her throat when she realized that she was looking at the old Wesley, still in his ironed suits and crisp collars. Without a thought to what any of the others would say she took off in hot pursuit.

By the time that the woman in the bed awoke Illyria had been awake for hours, rifling through every drawer and cupboard in the house, not caring or even thinking to stop and take the time to put something on or at least readjust her look. In her previous shell she had kept its basic appearance but altered it to suit her preferences. This time however she still did not know enough about her current predicament to make any sudden moves. Even though she could tell that she retained much of her earlier power Illyria knew that Wolfram and Hart was still lurking about and she didn't want to arouse anyone's suspicions.

"Hey hon…what are you doing up, you should be in bed…with me," The busty blonde sniggered as she slinked up behind Illyria and wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her close before nibbling on her ear.

"I…do not understand the question," Illyria slowly replied back as she debated whether or not to break free from the other woman's grasp, but her shell didn't seem to want to.

"What's to understand, a soggy breakfast and working for that pig Dyson or a few more hours in bed with me…," The busty blonde sniggered back into Illyria's ear before she began to pull the two back towards the bedroom.

"I…am liking the second choice," Illyria stated more into thin air than anyone else before she let herself be led back into the bedroom, curious as to the other woman's intentions.

"So it's settled then, we're all going to Los Angeles today," Buffy announced with a very confidant and urgent tone to her voice as she went to her closet and pulled out the biggest suitcase that she could find.

"Easy Buffy…we can't just run off like this we need to think about…," Willow began to say with a fearfully nervous look on her face before Buffy half spun around and cut her off.

"They're in trouble Will…big trouble, and they…he, thinks that I turned my back on him…that I don't care about him anymore, I can't leave it like that," Buffy started off with an angry growl before her voice faltered and she had to steel herself to keep from letting tears slip out.

"Come on Buff…Angel's a big boy, he can…," Xander started to say back with a nervous smile on his face as he edged into the room, serving as the blocker for a scared Dawn.

"No Xander…he can't, Angel will get…got blinded by the big picture and missed the little things along the way, the little things like having friends that he could turn to, friends that would be there for him when he needed them…we were supposed to be those friends Xander…but we weren't," Buffy said back with a great amount of self scorn in her voice and words as she look about ready to burst from frustration.

"But we can't leave now Buffy, that new slayer never showed up for her flight, her flight landed in London hours ago and she got off…but she missed the flight here to Rome," Dawn said with a nervous and scared look on her face as she briefly stepped from behind Xander.

"Do we know why…did she call," Buffy asked with an impatient frown on her face as she slowly pulled open her sock drawer and began to rifle through it.

"We don't know anything, other than that she definitely arrived in London, but after that we have nothing," Willow answered with a sad and worried look on her face as she fished around in her head for something happier to say.

"She probably just fell asleep in the terminal or something, there could be a million and one reasons why she didn't…," Buffy started to say with a steadily growing nervous look on her face before Willow stepped in.

"Or something could have happened to her, something bad, we're not the only ones with the idea to get to these girls and teach them how to use their abilities you know…but we are practically the only ones that want them to use those powers for good," Willow interjected with a very serious and nervous half smile on her face as she slowly sat down on the end of Buffy's bed and looked out through the window into the Rome night.

"So what do you suggest we do then Will, pack up and go to London tonight and spend days if not weeks searching for her…sorry but I can't do that, I've already got enough on my plate with Angel and…," Buffy came back with as she shook her head and pulled a few pairs of socks out of her drawer and placed them on the bed beside the suitcase.

"No…Buffy, we don't go to London…at least not you and Dawn, Xander, Kennedy, and I will go," Willow announced with an interest peaking smile on her face before she turned around and stepped out of the room.

He stepped into the room and was almost knocked over by the rock thick cloud of smoke that hung in the air over the tables. Trying his best to keep his breathing to a minimum he made his way over to the bar and after ordering a drink he made his way towards the steps, taking in many deep breaths after getting above the smoke. He had kept a low profile ever since leaving and had only visited clubs sparingly, for the most part finding it to difficult to enter them given his history. He could feel all of the emotions pouring off of the others in the club that night, least of all being a woman that had started off following a man with bleached blond hair. She had followed him for several blocks before he had caught on and eventually lost her. After trying in vain to pick up his trail again she had slipped into the first club that she could find, mumbling something about missing her flight. In fact she was a bit to consumed in her own thoughts to notice a haggard looking demon with red horns and green skin lurking about the upper levels of the bar.

She didn't know how far she had followed him, or it as the case probably was. Faith didn't have a true clue what exactly is was that she was following but it looked and sounded like Wesley. When it spoke its voice reminded her of when she had first met Wesley, all dressed up with no place to go. On the day of that first meeting she had mostly blown him off, but in the back of her mind she had wondered if her first impression had been completely accurate. She had felt that it was until the day that he had shown up at the prison with the dire new of Angelus being loose on the city once more. Since then though she hadn't been able to make up her mind about Wesley, and then he was dead and it was all too late. She followed him through some of the ritzier parts of London, watching as he stopped at the window of several stores, seemingly letting his attention be held by something there. Before long though a look of sadness would come over his face and he'd move on, leaving Faith with an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach at the sight for she knew that feeling quite well. It wasn't until she followed him into what seemed to be more of the slums of London that she began to notice that more and more she would pass by shops where beings other than humans walked out of. She was about to give up her search when a voice from the past snapped her off of the immediate chase.

"Fancy meeting you here…," A gruff voice called out from several feet behind her, causing Faith to search her mind for a moment to figure out the identity of that particular voice.

"Fuck…," Faith groaned softly under her breath has her memory came back to her and she remembered the person attached to the voice.

"Fuck is right you little bitch, you stole my bike…," A gruff looking man growled as he stepped towards Faith, one hand holding a mostly full bottle of beer and the other reaching for a knife.

"You owed me money Cody…so I took your bike, thought it was a fair trade at first, damn thing didn't even make it to Cleveland before I had to shove it off an overpass," Faith shot back with a sarcastic and daring scowl on her face as she slowly turned around, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and leaned back up against the wall.

"You what," Cody exclaimed with a furious look of shock on his face as he finally managed to fish his knife out of his pocket and aim the point at Faith.

"Oh please, even your knife is bigger than your…damn…me and my big mouth," Faith joked with a sly and sexy pout on her face before Cody growled low and suddenly the alley that Faith was standing alone with Cody in was suddenly very crowded.

"What…what was that…," Cody asked with an evil grin on his face as he took a swig from his bottle of beer and then tossed it aside into the nearest pile of trash.

"I said that you're hung like a mouse, I needed a magnifying glass to find your…," Faith started to angrily shout back before she was smacked in the back of her head by the business end of a shovel, knocking her down to her knees. She started to stand up but was struck again, this time in the left shoulder by what felt like a tongue. Gritting her teeth against the pain she turned and looked at her left shoulder, only to find three small rivers of blood trickling forth from three small holes in her shoulder.

"Nothing to say now eh…," Cody jeered with a mocking sneer on his face as he took a step forward and grabbed a fist full of hair with one hand and forced Faith to look at him.

"The last person that came at me with a knife put me in a coma for months…you gonna try to trump them Cody," Faith stated with a very confidant and proud laugh even though her left shoulder was starting to ache and Cody reeked of things that Faith didn't even want to imagine.

"You know…if you're dumb enough to pull a knife on a lady you should expect something to go wrong," A completely calm voice said from out of the darkness before a smirking Spike stepped out into view.

"Because something always goes wrong when that someone tries to hurt a friend of mine," Another completely calm voice said from out of the darkness before Angel stepped into view on the other end of the alley, a nervous knife wielding Nina by his side.

"Who the hell are you," Cody screamed out with a defiant and frustrated expression on his face as some of those in the alley began to move towards either end of the alley and closer to Spike and Angel.

"No one special really, a lot like you actually…because you wanna know what I see when I look at you…Cody, is that you're a scared little man with more balls then brains, but unlike my friend Spike over there you don't have a prayer," Angel replied with a carefree and almost giddy smirk on his face as he unclasped his hands and tilted his head to one side until he heard a pop. At his words several of those assembled in the alley seemed to lose some of their nerve, with a few whispering in hushed tones with Spike's name being repeated over and over again, accompanied by his old moniker of William the Bloody.

"I see that my reputation precedes me," Spike said back with a sly grin on his face as he walked forward towards the group at his end of the alley, pulling a curved blade out from beneath his duster in the process.

"Am I supposed to be scared of you or something," Cody asked with a look of no fear and even a bit of foolish confidence on his face as he turned away from Faith and took a few steps towards Spike, making sure to keep his knife in plain sight.

"Well it couldn't hurt…it might help the doctors tomorrow morning when they try to piece you back together from all of the little bits that I'm going to leave you as unless you give us back our pretty little friend there," Spike joked back with a smug smirk on his face as he lifted his blade up and marveled at how the light in the alley reflected off of it.

"You should listen to him, he gets pretty cranky when stupid idiots like you try to pick a fight that there's no way in hell that they can win," Angel added with an almost childlike look of excitement on his face as for a moment Nina stared oddly at him and wondered if he had lost it.

"You…you don't scare me…," Cody snapped out with a faltering tone of voice as both Angel and Spike couldn't help but smirk and then take a few steps forward, not caring in the least to count the number of enemies in front of them.

"Whatever…you ready pet," Spike asked with an excited smile on his face as he gave a quick look towards Faith before he stepped closer to the group at his end of the alley.

"Always," Faith said back with a relieved and excited grin on her face before she brought her hand up off of her injured shoulder, unintentionally coating the medallion with her blood that had been on her hand. Before Cody could say anything more Faith's foot connected with his stomach and the brawl began.

END OF CHAPTER 7


	8. Overestimations And Exagerations

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**Author's Note: If anyone wants to use any of my characters or storylines from any of my stories and spin them off just ask and we'll talk, unless I'm writing a sequel to that particular story and at the moment that'll only be for Three Strikes.**

**CHAPTER 8-OVERESTIMATIONS AND EXAGERATIONS **

The force of Faith's attack sent Cody flying back into wall, with the force of his impact with said wall jarring the knife from his hands. Scowling in pain Faith did a back flip and snapped the neck of whoever it was that had attacked her first. Next she scooped up his shovel and went in search of the demon that had struck her with its tongue. Spike stood as still as a statue for several moments as those nearest to him rushed forward. When they got close enough to his liking a wicked grin curled up the edges of his mouth and he easily dodged the first blow and then slit the throat of the next attacker. Angel initially started to throw himself at those that charged towards him but stopped and changed his tactic when he remembered that Nina was standing behind him with a dagger in her hands and not looking supremely confidant of her chances in a real fight. Nina, determined to show Angel that she could handle herself in a fight without him having to baby her, awkwardly lunged forward at the first demon to rush towards her, burying her knife up to the hilt in its chest. For a split second Nina let out a yelp of joy, before the fist of one of the larger demons dashed her hopes. The force of its blow cracked several of her ribs and sent her flying back across the street and through a centuries old stained glass window that had been set in an old window hole to keep the drafts out until a new window was made.

"Nina," Angel loudly exclaimed with a shocked and panicked look on his face, as he had more than heard the sound of Nina's ribs cracking after she was struck. Neither Spike nor Faith ever heard Nina's initial scream.

"Angel…what the fuck are…," Faith started to shout with an angry and surprised look on her face, as she caught sight of Angel sprinting away from the alley out of the corner of her eye, before she was forced to go silent when she had to duck down to hope to avoid the breath of a fire spewing demon.

"Ah don't waste your breath, Peaches must have found something better to…," Spike started to shout back with a zealous grin on his face before a furious Cody interrupted.

"You bitch," Cody screamed out in rage as he bent down and picked up his knife before madly charging towards Faith, intent on slashing her open across the stomach. Faith gave him her best smirk and wrenched his arm around quickly, letting the knife clatter harmlessly to the ground, before the tip of the blade of one of the other demons nicked just enough of her throat to stop her fighting immediately.

"A…Angel," Nina gasped out through a lot of pain as she fought hard to take each and every breath, lying on her side amidst the pile of shattered glass and blood.

"Nina…are you," Angel started to ask with a very concerned scowl on his face before a hatchet sliced into his left shoulder, going in deep enough to strike bone. This time however Spike clearly heard Angel's growl of pain, coupled with Faith's startled gasps as she clutched at her throat and frantically hoped that the blade hadn't gone far enough into her throat to do any serious damage.

"Oh bullocks," Spike shouted loudly before he caught the flat of a shovel broadside across his face, an attack that sent him staggering for a few steps before to his amazement he caught sight of a flash of jet black hair out of the corner of his eye which was soon followed by the sound of a neck being snapped. By the time that he had turned around the demon that had struck him with the shovel lay face down in a dirty looking puddle, with a triumphant and energized Morgan standing over it, looking half drunk and ready for anything.

"Who the hell are you…," Cody cried with a furious and scathing sneer on his face as he readied to attack again.

"The bitch from hell," Morgan shot back with a daring grin on her face before she had to duck down low to avoid an attack from one of the other demons.

"Got that right," Spike quipped under his breath with a sly smirk on his face as he slowly wiped his fingers across his face, checking to see if he was bleeding.

"What was that…," Morgan started to demand with a furious glare in her eyes before she was so concerned with glaring at Spike and making sure that the demon didn't get a second chance to hit her that she missed Cody's first incoming attack and wound up with a three inch long slash across her stomach, just above her bellybutton. "Damn," Morgan hissed angrily through clenched teeth as she stumbled back and clutched a hand to her stomach.

"Shouldn't we…I don't know, say something," Dawn wondered with a sad and nervous look on her face as she held the newspaper up in front of her and stared at their pictures.

"About what Dawnie," Willow asked softly with a tired and weary look on her face as she sat down on the couch beside Dawn.

"Them…I mean they were our…well your friends, it just doesn't feel right that we…," Dawn stammered to get out with a steadily growing look of sadness on her face as she gestured to the pictures on the front page.

"I know what you mean Dawn, but we can't do anything for them right now, when Xander, Kennedy, and I get to LA we'll find the right cemetery and pay them a visit," Willow replied with a somber look on her face as she lightly patted Dawn on the back.

"Change of plans Will, we're not going to LA," Xander announced with a serious and unhappy frown on his face as he walked into the living room, carrying a stuffed full satchel.

"Why not," Kennedy asked with a bored expression on her face as she walked in and slid into a spot next to Willow on the couch.

"Because something else has come up, remember that young woman that I told you about, the new slayer, well she has been sighted in a rather bad section of London," Giles answered with a very grim and serious frown on his face as he walked into the room and looked skeptically down at Kennedy.

"And that should worry us…why exactly," Kennedy demanded with a flip of her hand as she flopped back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling.

"It should trouble you Kennedy because Ms. Adam's was seen fighting what looked like a mob of demons, to much for one such as her to take on alone…but that's not the only reason that…," Giles began to say with a seemingly uncomfortable and nervous look on his face as he sat down in a chair and looked towards the couch.

"Reason that what…," Dawn wondered with a nervous and somewhat scared look on her face as she caught the look on Giles' face.

"The reason that we should all be concerned is that one of my sources has told me that it appears that Ms. Morgan if fighting alongside…Faith, who is supposed to still be in Los Angeles California, not London England," Giles replied with a curious look on his face as he turned his head just enough to look away from those assembled on the couch and not look Xander directly in the eye.

"Who's in London," Buffy asked with a tired yawn as she walked back into the apartment after visiting the Immortal for a bit.

"Faith…although she never said a word to me about leaving LA, something's up Buffy," Giles answered with a grim scowl on his face as he turned around in his chair and looked up at Buffy, who rolled her eyes and sighed softly.

"Great…just what we need, Faith going off on her own again," Buffy groaned with an annoyed and frustrated frown on her face as she shook her head on her way to the small kitchen.

"Did your source say what the fight was all about, how it got started, if there was anyone else fighting," Willow asked with a sincere look of concern on her face as she looked quickly after Buffy and then turned her gaze fully to Giles.

"He did say that there were three others fighting but he couldn't make out who they were, although now that you mention it he did say that there was someone with bleached blond hair in the middle of the melee…," Giles began to reply with a calm and firm tone of voice before at the end he debated about his choice of words and spoke the last little bit softly, mostly to Willow and those closest to him in hopes that Buffy wouldn't hear and get her hopes up again. Ever since that day in Sunnydale, even though she had never openly admitted it Buffy had been half expecting Spike to suddenly show up at her door, wondering where she had gone. There had been a few excruciatingly close near misses as people who looked like Spike had been spotted all over, but each time it had turned out not to be true.

"Bleached blond…Spike," Buffy stated with a look of nervous but yet hopeful awe on her face as she walked back into the living room and looked first to Giles.

"Now Buffy don't get your hopes up, we've been through this before, my source only said that he saw someone that had a hair color similar to Spike's…," Giles began to protest with an awkward smile on his face as he tried his best to placate Buffy's nerves and to calm her down.

"I thought you two were over and done with…," Kennedy asked with a confused and exceedingly bored frown on her face as she sat up and glared over at Giles.

"We were, but…if Spike had made it through then…we were going to talk about…us," Buffy softly replied as she sat down on the couches armrest and unscrewed the top on her bottle of water.

"Us…," Dawn begged to ask with a nervous and unsure pout on her face as she turned her head and gazed up at Buffy.

"Ever since I found out about his soul I had thought a lot about us…and the night before Sunnydale was destroyed I came to a conclusion, if we both made it then we'd give it…us, another go…but we'd take it slow and not hide anything," Buffy replied softly with a warm but yet sad smile on her face before she turned away, just quickly enough so that no one saw the small tear make its way down her cheek.

"How can you…after what he did…he should be lucky enough…," Xander exclaimed loudly as he nearly shot up out of his chair and looked about ready to go to war before Willow's words calmed him, if only a little bit.

"He saved the world Xander, if not for him we wouldn't be here…the least that you can do is let him rest in peace, if that's possible for him," Willow interjected with initially a rather stern glare in her eyes before her countenance softened and she found that she couldn't look at Buffy as she spoke the last few words.

"So what Will, he saved the world, we all have…how does that give him any right to…," Xander began to shout back with an annoyed scowl on his face as he tightly gripped the armrests of his chair before Buffy broke in and ended the discussion.

"Because I said so," Buffy stated plainly and without reservation before standing up and walking off into her room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

She lay there, unmoving, for what felt like hours, reveling in all of the feelings and sensations that she had just experienced for the first time. Illyria had wanted to experience this particular aspect of humanity with Wesley but because of the shell that she had taken possession of it was not possible. But with this new shell, a shell that still craved the woman now getting ready in the bathroom, was something of a very different sort entirely. While still at Wolfram and Hart she had used her free time to try and study up on the points of humanity that baffled her. This particular one had been almost a complete mystery to her until a few hours ago. Now though her curiosity was peaked by a report on the radio about a young blonde woman being found alive in the rubble of what was the Wolfram and Hart tower.

In her memories the image and name of this young blonde woman called out to her. She didn't yet fully understand why though. All that Illyria knew was that if she wanted to understand what had happened fully and discern her next course of action then she needed to know where the important players now stood. An odd sense of loss and grief filled her wholly as she reflected back upon Wesley's death, replaying the scene over and over again in her mind, wondering if he would still be alive if she had been only a few seconds faster. That thought consumed her for several more moments until the beautiful blonde reentered the bedroom and told her that she needed to get ready for work and tossed her an outfit that had less material comprised in it than a small washcloth.

Angel had seen the slow and insanely frustrating slide into death of one woman that he loved and he wasn't about to let it happen again. Whereas with Cordelia he had later endlessly condemned himself for not doing this or that he was not about to repeat his earlier errors. As the battle raged on Angel had managed to get Nina back out of the street and into the corner of the small shop. He had ended up using some of the shops wares as weapons because the mob of demons that had rushed him earlier hadn't let up and followed them. He didn't know how Faith and Spike were faring but he felt that he'd know if something had happened to Spike.

"Now you die…," An enraged vampire growled as he raced across the street towards Angel, who was standing in the small shops doorway after having dusted a vampire that had almost made it to Nina.

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Angel cracked with a bored but confidant grin on his face as he easily blocked the stake that the charging vampire held in his hand, before he used a quick snapping of his elbow to spin the point of the stake around. Before the vampire knew what was happening he had been dusted by his own stake. It didn't take long for the rest of the dusted vampires cohorts to press their attack. Angel dodged the first closed fist easily enough but wasn't so quick against the second one, a fist which caught him squarely on the jaw. He stumbled backwards into the little shop a few feet before he collected himself and lowered his shoulder before charging back out into the fray. Spike meanwhile was having less trouble, mostly because he had forgone trying to single-handedly slay every single demon with brute force alone. Instead he had resorted to letting the demons do it for him. To this end he had begun to land a punch to the jaw of one demon, just as one enraged demon would come up behind him, before he'd dart away and let the punch that was meant for him land on the demon that he had punched.

"Gonna have to be quicker than that…," Spike announced with a zealous look of pride on his face as he rolled out of the way of another attack and grinned as another demon fell. Faith had recovered enough from the wound to her neck to be able to trip up unsuspecting demons and then take the opening and drive Spike's blade down into whatever unprotected area that she could find. The wound on her neck was already beginning to heal although it was bad enough that had she been human it would definitely have left a scar. Even now though from the quick look that Spike had gotten of it he wouldn't be surprised, slayer healing be damned, if Faith would still be left with a scar.

"Any bright ideas…," Faith gasped out with a somewhat desperate look on her face as from what she could see the alleyway had suddenly become filled with a never-ending stream of demons.

"A few," Spike shouted back angrily as he dodged another blow and then grabbed a demon by the horns on its back and ran it straight into the side of a dumpster until finally snapping its neck.

"Fuck…," Morgan groaned with an unhappy scowl on her face as she crawled back away from the battle, tears beginning to show.

"Wait…what's wrong honey, don't like playing games with the big boys," Cody stated with a very proud sneer on his face as he advanced towards Morgan, the point of his knife clearly aimed straight for her jugular.

"S…stay away from me…you sick fuck," Morgan spat out in between foreshortened breaths as she held a hand to her wound and tried to get back up to her feet.

"I'm sick…heh, I'm not the one that came in here, playin all commando super bitch from hell, you did that all by yourself, and now you're going to die," Cody shot back with a very triumphant and full of power gleam in his eyes as he slowly continued to walk towards Morgan, getting closer with each step.

"Like I haven't heard that one before, please…," Morgan exclaimed back with a look of great confidence and disdain on her face as she tried to act as if this was all old news to her but in reality she was scared shitless.

"You've got quite the mouth on you…guess then I'll have to start by cutting out your tongue," Cody announced with a very certain and vindictive sneer on his face as he stepped over the body of the demon that Morgan had killed.

"Seems to me that what we have here is a failure to communicate, you see the young lady here told you to take a hike, but like most slack jawed yokels you've glossed over that part and gone straight to making grandiose claims," Spike interrupted with an anxious scowl on his face as he stepped in front of Cody and allowed Morgan to get back up to her feet even though she was still leaning very heavily on the wall and clutching the front of her now crimson stained shirt.

"Shut up…," Cody screamed out in a terrible fury as he lunged forward towards Spike. The flash of Spike's blade would be the last thing that Cody would ever see in this world before in his hurry to attack Spike he missed Faith standing beside the bleached blond vampire with the point of his sword pointed towards Cody. He impaled himself on the sword and died within moments. After initially recovering from the shock of Cody's death Spike started to try and create a path through the sea of demons and vampires when the worst happened. Above the clamor and din of the mob could clearly be heard a werewolf's howl.

END OF CHAPTER 8


	9. What A Night, Katy's Secret

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 9-WHAT A NIGHT, KATY'S SECRET**

"Come on Dawn, our flight to London leaves in an hour and we have to go all the way across town," Buffy yelled loudly through Dawn's door and over her music as she tried to decide what to wear to the airport.

"I'm almost done…I'm just not sure which one to take," Dawn shouted back over the music and through the door as she held up two different colored blouses and scrunched up her nose as she hated to leave either behind.

"Well pick one, Giles and Xander are getting impatient," Buffy called back before she walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

"What's taking them so long," Kennedy asked with a bored look on her face as she walked into the living room and dropped her bag on the floor beside the couch.

"Women…they always take forever," Xander replied with a half smirk on his face as he packed Andrew up with several bags and pointed him in the direction of the waiting taxis.

"We didn't Xander," Willow pointed out with a short laugh as she handed Xander a couple of her bags and he struggled to keep from dropping the heavy bags even though he gave the outward appearance of being able to hold them up easily while Kennedy smiled proudly.

"That was only because you packed your things hours ago," Giles stated with the faintest traces of a smile curling up the edges of his lips.

"Any more word on our Ms. Adams," Willow asked with a hopeful look on her face, as it was obvious that she was trying to change the subject.

"Not much, although last time I checked my source reported that Ms. Adams had been injured in the fight and taken to a nearby hospital, before rather promptly…and forcefully checking herself out and disappearing," Giles answered with a firm and grim scowl on his face as it was clear that he didn't like the news that his source had leaked to him.

"Well that helps us a lot…," Kennedy grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she flopped down onto the couch and crossed her arms.

"Actually it could Kennedy, because my source said that Ms. Morgan did not come into the hospital alone, someone brought her in," Giles came back with an optimistic look on his face as he closed his briefcase and locked it.

"So if we find whoever brought her in then…we find out who she was fighting with, and hopefully help Buffy bring a bit of closure about Spike," Willow added with a very serious and worried about Buffy frown on her face before Buffy popped back out of her room.

"What about Spike…," Buffy asked with a hurried but in control expression on her face before those assembled in the living room quickly looked at each other as each tried to come up with something to say to pacify Buffy without hurting her.

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She had never seen a place like this before. There were more flashing lights and styles of music playing than anywhere she had ever been. She could feel the beat of the music coming from inside the club. She lifted her gaze up to the banner on the roof and furrowed her brows at the title, Orange Crush. She felt strange in the barely there outfit, only concealed by a hastily pulled on shirt and sweatpants. The blonde that had driven here there, Holly, seemed to not be to thrilled about returning to this place of business. Illyria thought about inquiring as to the reason but her thirst for knowledge about humanity got the better of her and she let herself be lead through the front doors without complaint. Once inside Illyria got an education of another kind. The interior of the building looked like a tropical resort, or at least like the resorts that Illyria had seen on late night television, something that she had begun watching when Wesley wouldn't talk to her for extended periods of time. The only difference was that none of those tropical resorts on television, save one, featured overly intoxicated men throwing money and less than clothed women. Illyria would have puzzled at this a little longer when a rather young looking young woman, dressed like a very trashy Vegas showgirl in all black leather, which covered less than two percent of her body, came hurrying up to them.

"Holly, Jamie…where have you been, Harold's been looking for you," Katy, the young woman clad in black leather, stated with a nervous look on her face as the jewelry that adorned her slim but shapely waist jingled back and forth.

"Who is this…Harold," Illyria asked with a confused look on her face as she stood where she was and kept her gaze scanning back and forth through the club.

"You're joking right…Harold, the pig that watches us change, the one that signs our paychecks…any of this ringing a bell," Katy replied shakily as her light Russian accent slipped out briefly, with a great amount of disgust and disdain on her face as she spoke about her boss, as she squeezed as much skin as she could out of her outfit.

"He's on the warpath again…God that guy seriously needs to get laid," Holly exclaimed with a sarcastic grin on her face as Katy flipped her waist length braid back behind her shoulder.

"I do not understand the…," Illyria started to ask with a confused look on her face before an overweight bald man stormed up to them and interrupted.

"So you two have finally decided to show up, it's about time…now get back there and get ready, the two of you go on in five minutes, and you'd better be good today," Harold growled with a frustrated and angry scowl on his face as he hitched up his pants twice during the rant to keep them up high enough in back.

"Are you threatening me…," Illyria declared with a very serious and confrontational expression on her face as she stepped forward before Holly pulled her back, gave Harold a warm smile and pulled Illyria towards the dressing room. They had slipped into the dressing room only just barely before Holly began.

"What the hell were you thinking Jamie, you piss off Harold any more and he'll kick our asses out of here, and if you haven't noticed lately we're barely making ends meet at home and losing our jobs would put a serious crimp in keeping a roof over our heads," Holly grumbled with a very unhappy and hurried frown on her face as she stripped off the clothes that she had quickly pulled on and home and plopped down at her seat and pulled open a drawer.

"He threatened me…no one threatens the great Illyria and lives to tell about it," Illyria started to angrily announce as she clenched her fists tightly together before Katy walked in and frowned.

"Who's Illyria…," Katy asked with an impatient frown on her face as she raced over to her seat and quickly shoved the judo book off of the top of her place and into the top drawer.

"I am," Illyria declared with a proud and confidant look on her face as she puffed her chest out a bit and tried to stand regally.

"Whatever…she's still a little woozy from yesterday," Holly started to say looking up at Illyria before she leaned in closer to Katy and snickered as she said the last bit.

"I understand…I'll try to take a little longer out there and give you some more time to get…Illyria here, ready," Katy announced with an anxious smile on her face before she loosened the buckle that held the two halves of her top together and headed off for the stage.

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"Can you see her," Angel shouted over the honking of the car horns as he and Spike rounded yet another corner. After having transformed into a werewolf Nina had taken out the entire army of demons, Cody included, that had been trying to kill them. She hadn't eaten any of them, just used her pent up anxiety, fear, and anger as a weapon and tore them to shreds. Faith and Morgan had only been saved when Spike had grabbed them and headed for the street while shoving Cody towards Nina.

"No…and it's almost dawn," Spike replied with a frustrated and impatient scowl on his face as he leapt down from the bottom rail on the fire escape ladder of a nearby building.

"We have to find her," Angel persisted with a worried look on his face as he tilted his head back and tried to catch Nina's scent on the wind.

"Well that's a given, but unless you know a good…," Spike began to joke with a tired look on his face before a loud howl interrupted them.

"Nina…," Angel declared with a very serious and unsure look on his face before he tore off down the street, leaving Spike to hurry to catch up. They rounded a far corner just in time to catch sight of Nina violently snapping the neck of an unfortunate vampire and she howled soon after he dissolved into a cloud of dust.

"This ought to be fun," Spike mimed over to Angel with a gleeful look of sarcasm on his face as he slowly inched forward, keeping both hands in front of him so that Nina could see that he was unarmed and hopefully she'd decide that he didn't mean her any harm.

"Shut up Spike, or else I'll…," Angel started to growl under his breath as he glared over at Spike before Nina growled loudly and took a confrontational step towards the pair of vampires.

"I won't hurt her if I can help it Peaches, I'm not a…bloody hell," Spike began to growl back sarcastically under his breath before Nina's nostrils flared and she leapt onto Spike, knocking him flat on his back, her teeth a mere three inches from his face, getting a startled shout from Spike.

"Nina no," Angel shouted with a bit of panic in his voice as he rushed over and tried his best to make a split second decision about who to help first, Nina or Spike. In the end he finally decided to help both at the same time, and the only way that he could see to do that is to get Nina off of Spike before she did something irreversible, even with vampire healing. He dove in quickly, taking instant advantage of Nina leaning down fully to snap Spike's neck with her teeth before he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other under one arm and around her neck. With all of his might he quickly and suddenly pulled back and up and began to drag Nina away from Spike, despite her frantic attempts to free herself.

"We're to late…the sun," Spike shouted as loud as he could to Angel, with a fair amount of desperation in his voice, as he looked skyward, honestly a bit nervous by the first few rays of sunlight that fell upon the city.

"Damn…Spike, help me…," Angel grunted out with a very angry sneer on his face as it was taking almost all of his strength to keep Nina from getting loose as he stumbled back into a hard wall. Without uttering a word Spike leapt up off of the ground and tore forward, slamming into Nina, and creating a vampire and werewolf sandwich. At Spike's joining of her confinement Nina literally began to fight tooth and nail, ending with both Spike and Angel receiving several deep gashes and puncture wound on their upper extremities and shoulders. Gritting their teeth through the pain Angel and Spike managed to wrestle Nina back through the door of an abandoned building before they all violently tumbled down the stairs and then crashed into a pile of empty cardboard boxes.

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Katy's turn up on the stage had nearly ended before the shit truly hit the fan. Her set had started out like usual. Her outfit had been killer that day, just like it had been every week since her first day, seven months earlier. The usual guys had been there, hooting and hollering and tossing her enough money to both pay the bills and to give Harold his cut. She was just about to twirl around the pole one last time, with her legs tightly clenched around it as she spiraled her way down towards the floor with her back arched so that everyone got a good view of her but they were all upside down in her vision as a result, when it happened. Before any of the bouncers had a chance to register what has happening in front of them in their minds the pair of men had leapt up onto stage, both heading straight for Katy, with the bigger of the two brandishing a large knife. Awkwardly letting go of the pole at the same time that she let out a scared yelp Katy hit the floor and rolled away, just out of the reach of the first swing of the knife. The second swing caught her on the hip, opening up an inch long gash on her left hip. Her shouts of pain alerted the bouncers and other dancers backstage alike. Holly had been trying to make sure that everything was ready for their tandem act, with Illyria not understanding any of it in the least, before Katy's yell interrupted them.

"Katy," Holly screamed with a very stunned and worried look on her face before she instantly began to race towards the curtain.

"There is danger," Illyria stated with a calm but yet interested tone to her voice before she followed Holly out of the dressing room and onto the floor, only to see the man with the knife spin around and drive the knife up to its hilt into Holly's stomach as she tried to rush to Katy's aid. The dying look on Holly's face was one that would stick with Illyria for the rest of her existence. The shell grieved mightily for her death but to Illyria Holly's passing served to touch off the fire of grief that had quieted down a bit after waking up in the new shell. Katy meanwhile had recovered just enough from the shock of the attack to scramble back across the stage away from the two men as the three bouncers did their best to tackle the two men. However the two men surprised everyone by batting the bouncers away like they were flies before their faces changed.

"What the…hell are you," Katy exclaimed with a terrified look on her face as her breath caught in her throat and she scrambled to get away.

"You're death slayer," The unarmed vampire stated with a great amount of zeal while the other vampire licked Holly's blood off of the knife before diving down and sinking his fangs into her neck and drinking deeply.

"Slayer…I don't know what you're talking about…I'm not a slayer," Katy argued with a frantic look on her face as she used the sections of the backdrop to get back up to her feet as she squeezed herself flat up against the wall, hoping to keep as much space in between her and the two vampires as she possibly could.

"Not for long…," The unarmed vampire said with a very pleased grin on his face before he rushed forward and grabbed Katy by throat with both hands, trying to squeeze the life out of her.

"I wish to cause pain," Illyria announced with a deadly serious and fed up scowl on her face before the two front doors slammed shut and almost every man in the bar stood up and slipped their game faces on.

"What the fuck…," Harold started to wonder with a scared through confused look on his face before one of the vampires reached over and snapped his neck. Katy didn't see his body fall but saw the effects as a table was overturned rather violently as a result. Katy was beginning to see stars and black patches in her vision before Illyria went into action. Striding up to the knife wielding vampire, Holly's blood still dribbling down his chin, Illyria seemed to not take notice of the less than scared look on the vampires face before she shot her hands out and snapped his neck, barely taking note as he exploded into a cloud of dust. Her actions were not however unnoticed by the other vampires in the club.

"Two slayers…they never said anything about two slayers," A skittish vampire shouted as he looked as if he were about to flee the area.

"Two…four…eight, who cares…we're here to even the odds a bit," A larger vampire growled back at the skittish vampire before he charged Illyria and slammed his fist into Illyria's jaw, knocking her back a step.

"You are weak," Illyria stated with a very matter of fact look on her face before she blocked the next punch and once again snapped a vampire's neck.

"Nnh…," Katy gagged out as she was starting to lose consciousness before she did the only thing that she could think of, desperately hoping that it worked on vampires as readily as it did with most men who got a bit to forward with her. Squeezing her eyes shut she brought her knee up straight into the vampires groin and took some sense of enjoyment at the garbled sounds that came out of his mouth before he released his grip on her and dropped to the ground. The instant that the vampires hands were no longer around her neck Katy began a long fit of coughing and convulsing in an attempt to regain full use of her lungs.

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"Where the hell are they, dawn was three hours ago," Gwen demanded with a very impatient scowl on her face as Groo was at a loss to try to calm her down while Faith leaned back in her chair and sipped on her glass of tea while gently rubbing her throat. True to Spike's guess there was a slim scar that now ran across her throat parallel to her chin. Morgan sat very uncomfortably in the chair next to Faith, asking Connor an endless stream of questions about anything and everything that had to do with vampires and slayers. Connor did his best to answer them all but could not be completely overjoyed at talking to the beautiful young woman because in his mind the only reason that she was saying anything to him was because she was trying to catch Spike's eye.

"They're fine Gwen, they're probably on their way back here already, using the sewers and tunnels since the sun is up," Connor said softly as he did his best to keep the group calm despite his own uneasiness.

"How can you be so sure, you have the ability to read minds on top of everything else," Gwen shot back with a venomous glare on her face as she kept her concern for the others well hidden from everyone except Connor.

"No…because he's my son," A very bedraggled and weak looking Angel announced, with a softly snoring Nina in his arms wrapped up in his coat, as he and Spike forced themselves to walk up out of the hotels cellar and into the lobby.

"Dad…what happened," Connor exclaimed his question with a confused and worried look on his face as he got up and hurried around the corner until he was standing directly in front of Angel.

"Your future mother in law hit that time of the month…," Spike grumbled with a thinly sarcastic smile on his face, a statement that Angel made no move to rebuke, before he shuffled his way through the lobby and towards the elevator, wincing with every step at his wounds, not noticing Morgan's gaze following him the entire way.

END OF CHAPTER 9


	10. On The Run

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.**

**CHAPTER 10-ON THE RUN**

"What are you," Katy shouted in horror as she scurried back away from two vampires that had hopped up onto the stage and glared at her, their yellow eyes glistening in the sparkling stage lights.

"They are vampires…the undead," Illyria answered with a very determined look on her face as she leapt up onto the stage and positioned herself in between Katy and the two vampires.

"But they don't exist, they're just…," Katy continued with a look of fearful disbelief on her face as she shook her head and searched for something to put between herself and the vampires.

"They are not figments of your imagination or stories told to scare young children, vampires are real and very dangerous," Illyria explained quickly before she confronted the two vampires that had jumped up onto the stage, using a side kick to knock one off of the stage before turning to the other.

"Damn bitch…what are you," The other vampire growled with a very surprised glare on its face before Illyria silenced it.

"I am Illyria, I am a god," Illyria said with a very confidant and proud look on her face as she snapped the other vampires neck.

"But that's impossible…that old man couldn't have been right…he was crazy," Katy mumbled to herself as she frantically picked up what remained of her costume and tried to straighten out the confusion in her own mind.

"We should speak of this later, it is not safe here," Illyria added with an unsure look on her face before one of the vampires smashed through the wall with one of the tables and found the gas line.

"No wait…don't," Katy cried with a great amount of fear in her voice as Illyria grabbed her around the waist and crashed through the bead curtain that lead to the changing room before the two blasted through the half open back emergency door. They had only made it a few feet before the Orange Crush exploded in a large fireball.

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"How do you feel," Angel whispered softly with a concerned look on his face as he reached across the bed and wiped a few stray hairs off of Nina's face. He had laid Nina on her side on their bed, still wrapped up in his duster. He had taken the free time to begin to see to the injuries that he had sustained in capturing her the night before. When she had begun to stir he had climbed back onto the bed and laid down on his side so that he and Nina were almost face-to-face. Nina blinked a few times and groaned softly before fully opening her eyes and locking her gaze on Angel.

"I don't feel so good," Nina mumbled softly with a slightly sickly look on her face as she feebly brought a hand up and wiped it across the left side of her face.

"It was probably something that you ate…you sure did a number on those demons," Angel started to joke with an amused but worried look on her face before Nina breathed in deeply to laugh but stopped short and cried out in pain and grabbed her side. In an instant he had closed the gap between them and gently pulled her up into his arms, racking his brain to try and figure out something to help her. She mumbled something incoherent through the pain before the tears began to fall, unheeded down her cheeks.

"Angel…," Nina moaned softly with a defeated expression on her face as she didn't make an attempt to wipe away the tears.

"Shh…, it'll be okay, everything will be fine," Angel stated back with a supportive tone as he gently rubbed her back.

"How can you say that, everything will not be fine it can't be, I could have killed you last night and I wouldn't have even realized it until this morning…," Nina snapped back quickly with an angry scowl on her face as she glared up at Angel for a few moments before she couldn't hold in the anger and let it out in several body wracking sobs. Angel stayed silent for several minutes, holding Nina close, before he was finally able to formulate something to say.

"Don't say that, you didn't almost kill me and Spike, in fact…you saved us, if it hadn't been for you we never would have made it out of that alley alive," Angel quickly stated, forcing as much sincerity and honesty into his voice as he could muster on the spot, as he gently cradled the scared Nina in his arms.

"Liar…," Nina mumbled back up at Angel with a poorly done glare in her eyes as Angel was sure that she was trying to appear tough but inside she was very thankful for his admonition.

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The plane from Rome to London had been quiet enough, with it only being marred by Xander accidentally spilling his drink all over Dawn and Andrew hurrying out of the bathroom so fast that he had knocked the dessert cart over. Buffy had done her best to apologize and offer to pay for the damaged pastries but the plane had hit some turbulence just then and by the time that the flight attendant's had remembered her offer she and the others had left the plane. Giles took it upon himself to make the arrangements for lodgings for them all and soon he was on the phone with one of the slayers that made up the dozen strong group that was on their way to London. They had been forced to take the next flight after Buffy and the others but since no one thought that they'd be needed right away that fact wasn't much of a disappointment.

"So where is this hotel anyway, I'm starving," Dawn asked with an impatient pout on her face as she stared sadly out through the cabs dirt smudged windows.

"Calm down Dawn we're almost there," Buffy grumbled back with an uncomfortable and nervous frown on her face. Even though she couldn't place it ever since she had stepped foot off of the plane from Rome she had been feeling odd and out of sorts. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she felt like she hadn't since her last day in Sunnydale. That last time had been when she had begged Spike that he had done enough and to come with her. He had refused of course, leaving her to wonder what had been going on inside his head when he had not believed her declaration of love. A voice in the back of her mind had been screaming at her ever since that he had believed her and returned the feelings to the utmost, but was terrified at what that would mean for them. He had turned her down with his voice but the fireworks that had gone off in his eyes had only confused her more.

"So which hospital did Morgan go to," Kennedy asked with a bored out of her mind frown on her face as she turned from watching the other cars go by and instead focused her attention on the book that Willow was trying to read.

"It's not far, while the rest of you get settled in I'm going to check it out," Giles replied softly as he hung up the phone and checked his watch.

"I'm going with you…," Buffy started to announce with a nervous look on her face as the cab finally came to a stop before Giles interrupted her.

"That's alright Buffy, I'm quite capable of interviewing a few doctors and nurses by myself, you and the others should try and get some sleep, you can patrol tonight," Giles interjected with an anxious smile on his face as he seemed to want to get out of the cab and to the hospital more than anything.

"Yeah…you're probably right…it's just that," Buffy replied with a slightly nervous look on her face before Willow broke in, all without glancing up from her book.

"She doesn't want to be in her room when the Immortal calls…," Willow stated with a well-hidden smirk on her face before she calmly turned the next page of her book and continued reading.

"That's not it…I just…want to get a lay of the land during the day," Buffy quickly argued with a flushed and embarrassed smile on her face as she looked like she wanted to reach out and strangle Willow.

"Maybe we should ask some of the locals, see if there's any demony gang war going on or something like that, it won't do us any good if there was and we walked right into the middle of it unprepared," Xander chimed in with a hopeful smile on his face before he calmed down as everyone else, save Willow, glared at him lightly.

"I'm hot…," Andrew moaned with an uncomfortable frown on his face as he sat squeezed up against the side of the cab as Buffy, Dawn, and Xander took up most of the seat.

"Sorry but we didn't have enough for two cabs…," Dawn mumbled with a slight look of regret on her face as she turned and smiled at Andrew, partially hoping that it would go far to calm him down.

"We barely had enough for the hotel rooms…," Buffy added with an unhappy look on her face before the cab pulled up in front of the hotel.

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Faith stood there, naked as the day she was born and dripping wet from the shower, in front of the bathroom mirror of her hotel room. She stared intently at her reflection in the smooth surface, again and again tracing the what she considered ugly scar across her throat. The most unnerving part for her wasn't exactly the sight of the scar given her slayer healing but every time that she touched the area a flash of memory washed over her. Except the flash of memory confused her completely, because after the first few times of viewing the memory she had come to the conclusion that it was not her memory that she was viewing. She couldn't quite place the location of the memory but as she studied the flash of memory more and more she found that she thought that some of the buildings looked vaguely like those near Wesley's apartment in LA. Unconsciously her fingers drifted down from the scar on her neck to the medallion. She started to rub it again but stopped with her thumb halfway across its face. Nervously she glanced away from her reflection in the mirror and brought the medallion up just under her chin. She let out a small gasp when the reflection of the medallion was not the one that she remembered. Gone was the intricate snowflake pattern; in its place was a carving that looked to Faith a great deal like an old coin that she had seen during her travels. It had a small square hole in the center and the lines of tiny writing that circled the hole were in a language that Faith had never seen before. A sly but sad smile graced her lips as she somehow knew instantly that Wesley would know what the script translated into but being who she was Faith only shook her head and let several long strands of her still sopping wet hair fall forward and conceal her face.

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Giles had snuck away to the hospital after getting Buffy and the others checked in but had not been able to find out much, other than that Morgan had made a seemingly miraculous recovery. When she had rushed out of the hospital a mere ten minutes after first arriving the doctors had started to go after her but stopped when she quickly disappeared into the night. When he had tried to ask them about those that Morgan had come in with the doctors said that they couldn't remember exactly what they looked like, blaming their memory lapse on that night being extremely busy and having not slept in two days. Thanking them politely Giles started to leave the hospital before an old nurse stopped him by softly asking him if was looking for the young woman that had been brought in with a knife wound to the stomach only to leave a few moments later, running out like she was late for something. After nervously lying to the old nurse and claiming to be her uncle Giles' heart skipped a beat when the old nurse mentioned that one of the two that had brought her in had bleached blond hair.

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"Ow…," Katy moaned with a pained grimace on her face as she slowly pushed herself up and off of the ground.

"Are you damaged," Illyria asked with an almost angry tone to her voice as she stood up and looked down at Katy lying naked on the hot pavement of the parking lot. Off in the distance police and firefighter sirens could be heard wailing as they raced to the scene.

"I…I don't think so," Katy started to answer with a scared and confused expression on her face before she noticed that a small cut on her finger that she had received that morning was suddenly gone.

"Good, now get up, the authorities will be here shortly," Illyria added with an almost emotionless look on her face as she turned back to face the still smoldering remains of the club.

"But shouldn't we wait for them…," Katy argued with a panicked look on her face as she shakily got back to her feet and did her best to cover her nakedness.

"They will not understand, this is beyond them," Illyria countered with a very certain and confidant look on her face before she glanced down and scowled. Unfortunately during the fight and subsequent explosion her sparse amount of clothing had been reduced to almost nothing. Concentrating very hard and focusing intently on the task at hand she was able to repeat the same process that she had done months earlier to make a new outer covering for her old shell she made one for this new shell as well. However unlike her earlier attempt at it this time she overspent her energy and was left exhausted. Before she knew what was happening Illyria dropped down to one knee and had Katy not intervened she would have continued down to the ground.

"Jamie," Katy shouted with a great deal of panic as she rushed to her friends side and tried to help Illyria regain her bearings while not letting go of what there was of her clothing.

"We need to go…," Illyria stammered out through the pain and exhaustion as she forced herself back up to her feet and quickly found a means to their escape. With almost all of her remaining strength she dragged Kay after her for a bit before they got to a small red car.

"I'll drive," Katy stated with a shaky tone to her voice as she helped Illyria into the passenger side seat and then slipped into the drivers seat and fishing underneath the seat for the keys.

"This is your car, and you leave the keys here…," Illyria asked with a very tired look on her face as she lazily turned her head to one side to look over at Katy.

"My car's a piece of shit, I'm certainly not going to lose my life trying to stop a carjacker," Katy quickly replied with a frustrated and scared look on her face before she found the keys, inserted them into the ignition and fired the engine. The small car barely made it out of the parking lot before the fire engines and police cars swung around the corner.

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"So how is she," Spike asked softly with a bored look on his face as Angel tiredly took a seat next to him at the bar and then ordered himself a drink.

"She'll be fine," Angel replied with a tired and weary look on his face before he nodded his thanks to the bartender and took a sip.

"Thought you didn't drink anymore," Spike asked with a half amused but yet serious look on his face as he half looked over at his grandsire.

"Rough night," Angel calmly replied back with a bit of a threatening tone of voice telling Spike to let it drop before Angel winced at the motion of his arm as his injuries had yet to fully heal.

"So what are we going to do tonight, we don't want another rough night, not sure how many more of them I can take," Spike asked with a concerned look on his face before he took a sip of his own drink.

"I've already got Gwen and Groo working on it, they're scouring the city looking for somewhere that Nina can stay at nights until this phase passes," Angel replied with a realistically hopeful look on his face as he glanced over at Spike before taking a drink.

"How'd you ever get them to do that, can't say as I can see how Gwen would have readily gone along with that idea," Spike wondered aloud with a serious frown on his face as he slowly began to stir the ice in his drink around the glass.

"She didn't at first, but I told her that the sooner that she found somewhere safe for Nina the sooner that we'd find the axis and get Wesley back," Angel answered with a solemn frown on his face as he continued to stare straight ahead into the mirror that sat as the bars backdrop, wanting to chuckle a bit at his lack of reflection.

"Any sign of Wolfram and Hart yet," Spike whispered softly to Angel, so low in fact that only because Angel was a vampire did he even hear the question. In a silent answer Angel shook his head and frowned.

"Have you seen Faith since last night," Angel asked Spike softly as he scooted his stool a bit closer to Spike's and then downed the rest of his drink.

"Nope…she's been in her room the whole time though, smells like she probably took three showers, almost got knocked out by the scent of shampoo and soap coming from her room, partially why I'm down here," Spike replied with a quick roll of his eyes before he to ordered another drink.

"I'm worried about her, at first I wasn't sure what to make of that medallion, but after what happened last night I'm not ruling out that it's some form of mind control, it's not like her to just take off after…ghosts," Angel added with a concerned tone to his voice as he downed the next drink in one long gulp.

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Gwen and Groo had stuck good on their word. The two had been scouring the city almost all day, stopping for a little bit of lunch. They were forced to use a large amount of tact in their search, as they knew that they couldn't exactly simply go up and ask people if they had a steel cage big and strong enough to hold a werewolf. Gwen knew of a few people in London that might be able to help her, but she kept those stops until the very last. More than once during the day Gwen thought that she and Groo were being followed but she had never seen anyone out of the ordinary when she had looked back. They were almost ready to start to check out Gwen's list of contacts when while waiting for the light to change everything changed. Above the crowd noise all that Gwen could make out was that someone was talking on there cell phone and what they said froze her in her tracks, "Buffy…it's me Giles, I didn't get much from the hospital, maybe you'll have better luck tonight on your patrol."

END OF CHAPTER 10


	11. Heartache

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Morgan and Katy.**

**Author's Note: Jamie is the name of the shell that Illyria took over after the battle on Angel's series finale. Sorry about taking so long but got a little writer's block, holiday's got busy…hopefully the next chapter won't take so long.**

**CHAPTER 11-HEARTACHE**

"Pardon the mess, but the maid's off this week," Katy joked badly with a scared smile on her face as she unlocked the door and pushed it open, allowing Illyria to stumble in before collapsing down onto the couch.

"It is…sufficient," Illyria replied softly with a tired edge to her voice as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"Not bad for only living in this country for seven years, coming here all alone at the age of thirteen, I think I've done pretty good for myself considering," Katy started to joke with a proud smile on her face before the tears began to stream out of her eyes and she looked away.

"You grieve," Illyria stated with a surprised and confused frown on her face as she sits up and looks over at the kitchen, where Katy is struggling to stay upright and not break down and sob.

"Holly…she, she's…," Katy stammered out softly through the tears as she made her way out of the kitchen and looked for a box of tissues.

"She is dead but we are not, we cannot stay here long, they will come for us," Illyria announced with a very firm and matter of fact tone of voice as she rubbed her tired eyes and looked around the small apartment.

Katy had come to the US seven years earlier like she had said, living with some relatives of her mothers until she had turned eighteen and then she had left, telling them that she was going to college. In truth she had tired of the strict rules that she had been placed under ever since making the trip over. She had landed in California and found herself homeless. She had started off finding odd jobs to pay for a meager hole in the wall. One day while going for a swim in the ocean a man had approached her and told her that if she wanted to earn a lot of money that she should call him, before leaving he had given her his card. At the top of that card had been the words, Orange Crush. She had been more than a bit nervous the first time that she had stepped foot into the club and accepted the job but Holly and Jamie had taken her under their wing and helped out. They had helped her find a better apartment and even look into some college classes. But that was all before the night of the battle in Los Angeles that changed everything. Now her life had more than been turned upside down and nothing made sense anymore, least of all being called a slayer.

"Why…why can't we stay here, who's coming for us…and what the hell is a slayer," Katy demanded with a very impatient and frustrated scowl on her face as she walked in front of Illyria and kicked the door shut.

"Wolfram and Hart, a multinational and dimensional corporation that has existed in one form or another since almost my time, they will stop at nothing to gain control over this world, a slayer…you will have to ask someone else about that, Wesley did not share that information with me before his death," Illyria replied with a very serious and weary expression on her face as she summoned up enough strength to get back up to her feet and walk over to the windows.

"What do they want with us…with me," Katy added into her question as this was all becoming far too much for her to understand.

"The story is to long and detailed to tell at this moment, once we are out of danger I will explain as much as I am aware of…," Illyria answered with a very serious and cautious look on her face before she reached up and closed the blinds.

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"Find a safe place for Nina," Angel asked with a concerned look on his face as Gwen and Groo walked back into the lobby of the hotel just as the sun was starting to set.

"Would we disappoint you," Gwen asked with a proud smile on her face that hid the waves of nervousness that Angel and Spike smelled pouring off of her.

"That remains to be seen," Spike joked with an amused grin on his face as Connor walked in and leaned back up against the bar.

"Blondie's joking aside yeah we found a place for your girl Angel so rest easy, however we do have a bigger problem, one that we can't just lock up," Gwen replied with a sarcastic frown on her face as she pulled up a seat beside Angel and pulled the zipper down on her coat a couple of inches.

"And what problem would that be," Angel asked with a frustrated sigh as he shook his head and downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, as if preparing for the worst.

"Rupert Giles and Buffy Summers are here in London," Groo said with a very calm and serious look on his face before Gwen could get a word out. At that seemingly innocent statement both Spike and Angel almost dropped their drinks. Seconds later Spike closed his eyes and took a long and slow drink while Angel scrounged up the courage to speak.

"Are you sure, I mean absolutely sure," Angel asked with a nervous tone to his voice as Connor looked to his father.

"Um let me think…yes," Gwen stated sharply, with a very irritated scowl on her face, before she looked about ready to send a few volts Angel's way.

"Isn't this good news," Connor offered up with a slightly unsure look on his face as he walked around easily beside the stools, his knee apparently fully healed.

"Well junior, that depends on why they're here," Spike said, answering for Angel, as he finished drinking the rest of his drink and slid off of his stool.

"If they're here with the Immortal then it's best that we don't cross their paths, but if they're here…," Angel started to say with a nervous and unsure look on his face before being interrupted from behind.

"Looking for me then it'd probably be best if I would find them and get them to leave as quickly as possible…right," Morgan interjected with a serious and uncomfortable look on her face as she held a hand over the place on her stomach where she had been cut even though the wound was now gone.

"What are you doing here," Connor muttered under his breath with an angry scowl on his face as he crossed his arms and glared at the new slayer.

"I…I didn't have anywhere else to go," Morgan started to snap back, her voice and glare full of venom, before her instant bout of confidence subsided and she slumped her shoulders and sadly took a seat at the bar.

"With them here we're going to have to be extra cautious in our attempts to find the axis and use it to locate Wesley, let's just hope that they're not smart enough to do a locater spell," Gwen added with a nervous look on her face as she rolled her eyes and unhappily ordered a drink.

"Okay…here's the plan for tonight, when it gets close to dusk Spike and I will take Nina to wherever it is that you found for her and stay with her until morning, Connor I want you Morgan and Faith to stay here in the hotel, don't do anything to draw attention to yourselves if you can help it, Gwen…I want you and Groo to find and tail Buffy and Giles, I want to know where they go and what they're doing," Angel announced with a very firm and certain expression on his face before he stood up and walked out of the lobby, heading up the stairs towards Faith's room. He found her, sitting silently on the end of her bed, staring out into space through the slightly open window by the dresser.

"You know…the sky is actually quite beautiful," Faith mumbled with an odd look on her face as she stared off into the sky, clad only in a bathrobe.

"Faith…are you okay," Angel asked with a nervous edge to his voice as he slowly approached the bed.

"It's so blue…I never really stopped and took the time to notice, it's funny how much you miss when you're…," Faith started to continue with a distant look on her face before a single tear slid out of each eye and softly brushed down her cheeks.

"What is it, what's wrong…Faith, talk to me…," Angel asked with a concerned and impatient look on his face as he quickly moved around the bed so that he could look Faith in the eye. Feeling not quite comfortable with the situation Angel chose to kneel down on the floor straight in front of Faith rather than to sit beside her on the bed.

"I see him Angel, everywhere I go…but it's all wrong, he's gone…but yet I see him," Faith finally mumbled out softly as momentarily she continued to stare out of the window before her shoulders sagged and she dropped her head down, tears now descending straight from her eyes to the carpet below.

"See him, who Faith…who do you see," Angel asked quickly with a very confused look on his face as he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, taking care to do it all slowly enough so that he didn't frighten her.

"Wes…only it's not him, not exactly anyway, it's like I'm seeing his past…here in London, and every time that I touch the medallion I get a flash of memory…his I think, something that happened to him…something painful," Faith slowly and cautiously replied with a haunted look in her eyes before at the end she awkwardly reached up and massaged her throat. Angel's brows furrowed first in confusion and then in concern as he saw the path of Faith's hand to her throat. His own memories of the time when Wesley had nearly died by Justine's hand were not pleasant ones that he liked to remember and reflect upon. His rage at Wesley playing a part in Connor being lost to him had been so overwhelming that he had almost strangled his best friend in his hospital bed, rather than wishing him a speedy recovery and admitting that he should have noticed that something was up sooner.

"It's probably when Justine slit his throat and took Connor," Angel said softly, banishing any thoughts of that time in his life to the darkest recesses of his mind, before he looked Faith straight in the eye and tried to get a read on her. Faith's eyes grew wide and fearful at Angel's mention of Wesley having his throat slit, and grew into slits themselves as she contemplated the name of the woman that had hurt Wesley so badly and then just left him there to die.

"And then you…," Faith started to reply softly as Angel laid a hand on the back of her hand, before suddenly her world went dark and through the eyes of a fly on the wall she relived the moment in which Angel had tried to smother Wesley in his hospital bed with his own pillow. With a sudden gasp Faith wrenched her hand out from under Angel's and then scrambled back across the bed before falling off and then crashing back into the wall, knocking the lamp off of the lamp stand in the process.

"Faith," Angel shouted in alarm as he tumbled back away from the bed and crashed into the wall, a mask of confusion and concern on his face when he finally regained his bearings and stared across the room at Faith.

"Why Angel…why," Faith gasped out with an overwhelming look of shock on her face as she did her best to regain her composure but she failed miserably as she was experiencing something completely foreign to her.

"Why what Faith…I don't understand," Angel shot back with a very confused and concerned look on his face as he slowly got to his feet and then cautiously made his way around the end of the bed.

"How could you Angel…you tried to kill him," Faith snapped back in reply as she seemed to calm a bit and regain a piece of her old attitude and pushed herself back up to her feet against the wall, set her jaw, and clenched her hands into fists.

"Which time…you're going to have to be a little bit more specific here Faith," Angel countered with a very nervous and even slightly scared look on his face as he scrambled to try and figure out exactly what could be happening to Faith.

"After Connor, you tried to smother him with…," Faith started to reply with a nervous look on her face before Angel shook his head in dismay and furiously began to try and come up with a response that wouldn't sound like a cheap excuse.

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"This still doesn't make much sense…you're not really Jamie…she's gone, instead you're an ageless being trapped in her body," Katy declared with a nervously unsure smile on her face as she warily glanced at her front door. While Illyria had gone on and on about the various extensions and goals of Wolfram and Hart Katy had hurriedly torn through her apartment, packing anything and everything in sight, including changing into something that looked more normal and less like her former career. She finally decided on a pair of blue jeans that weren't overly tight and a white lightweight shirt that she pulled on before slipping a long sleeved denim looking shirt overtop of it. She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail and walked back into the living room just as Illyria answered her question.

"That is correct, your friend is dead…ever since I took over her shell, however some of her…drives, feelings…remain," Illyria answered with a somewhat confused look on her face as she leaned back in the seat and glanced over at the clock.

"And I'm a slayer, some super powered fighter for the good of all humanity," Katy continued with a still yet fully convinced frown on her face as she sat down on the couch beside Illyria and unplugged the telephone.

"Yes, although as I explained before I am not the one to answer your inquiries, for that we must seek out those to whom this is normal, the watchers council," Illyria answered with a serious look on her face as she took a deep breath.

"They're that group of British guys right…had one of them try to get me to come with him once, scared the shit out of me to…," Katy said with a slowly calming look on her face as she checked her watch.

"You are correct, but we really should be…," Illyria started to say with a very serious look on her face before the lights suddenly went out and the front door was sent flying off of its hinges and only missed hitting Katy because she slid down in her seat and fell to the floor just in time.

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"Anything," Willow asked with a hopeful smile on her face as she walked into the lobby from the elevators just as Giles walked into the hotel from the street.

"Not much I'm afraid," Giles replied with a nervous look on his face as he walked across the lobby towards Willow.

"Anything that'll explain why Ms. Adams was in that fight last night, and who checked her into the hospital," Willow added with an impatient and worried look on her face as she half turned with Giles and walked into a small alcove at the edge of the lobby and sat down at a small table. Giles looked like he was about ready to say something but thought better and sighed and leaned back in his chair, leaving Willow to initially only look on in wonder.

"I'm sorry but no Willow, the nurse did not remember anything…it's possible that she was under some kind of spell," Giles finally replied with a nervous look on his face as he leaned back, took his glasses off, and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Maybe I should go there and see…I could do a simple spell and…," Willow started to say with an optimistic smile on her face before Giles stepped in.

"I don't think that would be wise Willow, besides that she's not there anymore, I was lucky to even catch her in the parking lot as she was leaving for the day, who knows where she is now," Giles lied with a nervous and frustrated look on his face as he slid his glasses back up his nose and into place.

"Our luck doesn't seem to be to good these days huh," Willow mumbled with a sad and unhappy pout on her face as she shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

"No…it does not," Giles softly added with a worried look on his face before the lobby telephone rang and the young woman at the counter walked over and picked it up.

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"Are you Angel," A bellman asked with a scared look on his face as he walked up to Angel, on his way back down from trying to figure out what was going on with Faith.

"Nope sorry, got the wrong guy, my name's Liam," Angel replied with a nervous smile on his face before the bellman quickly handed the package to him and took off back down the hallway and sped around the corner. For a few moments Angel could only stare at him and wonder. It was then that he noticed the smell. He knew it well, but he couldn't quite figure out why it would be coming from the box that he was holding in his hands. Slowly he ducked into a small closet and flipped on the light before setting the box on the floor. There was no return address or note attached to the box, only that familiar smell and bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He slowly tore open the wrapping and took a useless deep breath before unfolding the box and peering inside. Had it been possible his heart would have broken at the sight of what was in the box, two severed heads. What hurt most of all was their identity. It took Angel nearly an hour to compose himself enough to venture out of the closet, which when he did he spotted Spike strolling down the hallway with a rolled up newspaper tucked under his arm. He stopped when both the smell and the sight of Angel struck him as odd and out of place.

"There something I should know about Peaches," Spike joked with an amused smirk on his face as he raised an eyebrow and nodded his head towards the closet.

"Not now Spike, get in here," Angel growled with a not wanting to verbally spar in the least sneer on his face as he yanked Spike into the closet before showing him the two heads in the box.

"Bloody hell…how," Spike exclaimed with a curious and anxious look on his face as he tried not to look at the heads or let the demon in him get off too much on the smell of human blood.

"Beats me, one of the bellman brought it to me…knew who I really was to," Angel answered softly, as if in a daze, as he slowly slid back down to a seated position on the floor and stared off into space, looking about ready to tear up.

"Any idea who they are," Spike wondered with a nervous look on his face as he slid down to a seated position across from Angel on the other side of the box and stared at the sides of the box.

"How am I going to do it Spike, how am I going to tell her…in the state she's in…," Angel moaned with a very hurt and almost scared look on his face as he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

"Tell who…you know who they are…were, don't you…," Spike demanded with a confused and slowly growing look of unease on his face as he lifted his gaze up to Angel and stopped concentrating on the sides of the box.

"Yes Spike I do…they're…it's…Nina's sister and niece…Wolfram and Hart cut their heads off and sent them to us as a warning…and what's worse they know where we are," Angel replied softly with a heartbroken look on his face as a tear slid down his cheek before he and Spike sat in stunned silence for some time after that, neither having any idea as to what to say or do.

END OF CHAPTER 11


	12. Out Of The Frying Pan And

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 12-OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND…**

He sulked through the streets of London, keeping the hat pulled down low over his horns. Uncharacteristically he had descended into one seedy club after another, hoping to lose himself in the writhing flesh of the masses. However like his earlier attempts it ended in a miserable failure. Cursing himself for his odd inability to get drunk he wandered from bar to bar until the sun came up and he began to look for a place to rest his hat for the night, or day as it now was. He hadn't gone far when he looked up and saw himself in front of a hotel. Thinking that this was as good of a place as any he shrugged his shoulders and went inside to the front desk to get a room, not noticing the red headed witch and ex watcher sitting at a table on the other side of the lobby.

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"So what do we do now," Spike asked softly with a somber frown on his face as he took the box from Angel and did his best to not look at the two heads inside.

"How should I know…there isn't a manual for any of this Spike, please…if you've got any ideas I'm all ears," Angel answered snidely as he scowled back at Spike before his hand reached for the doorknob.

"Last I knew this was your operation…I'm just along for the ride," Spike replied with a slightly unsure look on his face before the two exited the closet and snuck back into Spike's room.

"Keep this here, I'm going to talk to Nina," Angel stammered out with a very nervous look on his face as Spike hesitantly set the box down on the desk in his room.

"What are you going to say," Spike asked, his voice totally devoid of any of its usual sarcasm or mockery, as he turned away from the box and back to Angel.

"What I have to…," Angel softly replied with a saddened and fearful look in his eyes before he hung his head and left the room.

"Better you than me," Spike grumbled sadly with a somber pout on his face before he plopped down onto the end of his bed and flipped on the television, hoping to find something that at least momentarily would take his mind off of the contents of the box and what Angel now had to do.

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Katy awoke to find herself tied up and in the back of a van, being thrown back and forth against the sides at every corner. She couldn't see much, as someone had tied a rag tightly around her eyes. She struggled against her bindings and gritted her teeth against the pain that she felt as the rope dug into her wrists. She squirmed around a bit until she bumped into another bound body in the back of the van. Guessing and hoping that it was Illyria Katy did her best to try and move the rag around her eyes down just far enough so that she could see something. She struggled enough until the top of the rag slid down her nose just enough so that her eyes were uncovered. She glanced through the back window of the van and even though it was in desperate need of being washed Katy was just able to make out the rear end of an airplane.

"Okay ladies…we're here," A gruff voice joked as the van came to a stop, prompting Katy to lower her head and do her best to appear like she was still out.

"Next stop London," Another voice, this one female, added happily before Katy felt a needle being jammed into her shoulder and seconds later the world went black.

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"Well that's something that you don't see everyday," Kennedy announced with a very surprised look on her face as she walked into the lobby beside the table at which Willow and Giles were sitting and stared at the front desk.

"What…Lorne," Willow started to ask with a bored look on her face before her gaze fell upon the barely recognizable form of the empathy demon that she had met when she had gone to Los Angeles to give Angel back his soul. If it were possible Lorne's complexion ran through the entire gambit of colors associated with green as he frantically searched for an exit that wouldn't make him look suspicious. He had finally found one when he bolted for the door, only to almost fall flat onto his face in an attempt to stop as a gaggle of new slayers opened the hotels front doors.

"Uh heh…don't mind me folks, I'll just be going now," Lorne stated with a cheesy and scared smile on his face before he started to try and hurry in between the various slayers and slip back out onto the street. However he was stopped in his tracks when Kennedy leapt forward and grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him back into the lobby towards Willow and Giles.

"Who is he," Giles asked with a curious and cautious tone to his voice as he stood up and instinctively reached for the hilt of the knife that he had hidden under his coat.

"He's a friend of Angel's, an empath demon from another dimension, in Los Angeles he used to own a nightclub, anyone or anything would sing a little karaoke and then he'd read their future, but…," Willow started to answer, her voice full of vigor, before she took in the appearance of the former nightclub owner. He was no longer slim, trim, and well manicured. His hair had grown out a little bit and his whiskers were beginning to show. But nothing could compare to the absolutely haunted look in his eyes.

"That was the old me sugarplum, the me before…," Lorne started to say with a chipper smile on his face before the memories came back and overwhelmed him. It took all of his determination to not break down in tears right then and there. In the end he covered his face with his hands and bowed his head.

"What happened to you Lorne, you look like hell," Willow asked, the concern and worry clearly evident in her voice, as she stepped forward and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lorne replied softly as he collapsed down into the chair that Willow had just vacated.

"We're beyond what you do and do not want to talk about, we need to know what happened in LA if we are going to be able to help…," Giles began to demand with an impatient scowl on his face before Lorne's fear was converted into disgust and anger at the man demanding so much of him.

"That's funny coming from you…wanting to help, finally decide to get down off of your high horse and stop lying to everyone around you," Lorne angrily shot back at Giles as he steeled his eyes and glared powerfully up at the old watcher for a moment or two. Finally when he couldn't sustain the glare any longer Lorne allowed a wickedly sarcastic smile to spread across his lips.

"We don't have time for riddles or such tomfoolery," Giles shouted back with an angry scowl on his face as he stepped forward and looked to be about ready to throttle Lorne when Willow stepped in.

"Easy Giles, he can't tell us anything if he's scared out of his wits," Willow interjected with a nervous look on her face as she stepped in between Giles and Lorne and knelt down in front of Lorne's chair.

"Is that safe," One of the new slayers whispered to another with a confused and slightly scared look on her face as she edged a bit back and away from the niche in the lobby.

"Got me," Another new slayer whispered back with a very nervous edge to her voice as she squeezed forward to get a better look.

"Hey now ladies…I…," Lorne started to say with a very nervous smile on his face as he stared up from his seat at the assembled new slayers before Willow cut in.

"Lorne…what happened to Angel and the others," Willow asked with a very serious and slightly scared look on her face as she did her best to not scare the demon sitting in front of her.

"I think that you already know, tried to pick a fight with the senior partners…and lost," Lorne replied softly, his voice hinting that at least on the surface he deemed the admission as something out of a dream, before his eyes filled up with tears and he had to look away.

"We know that Wesley, Fred, Cordelia, and Gunn are dead but we do not know what happened to the others," Giles answered with a grim and frustrated look on his face as he cautiously sat back down.

"Well sorry but I can only guess what happened to them, like I told Angel, after I fulfilled my part of the plan I got out of Los Angeles before all the fun began," Lorne said with a sad pout on his face as he leaned back in his seat and stared down at his hands.

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Angel checked the clocks on the wall as he walked down the hallway, wishing somehow that he could rewind time itself and keep Nina's sister and niece from meeting the same fate as they had. Nina had taken the news better than he had expected, well if curling up into the fetal position and mumbling softly to herself in completely incoherent phrases was taking it well. He hadn't wanted to leave her but knew that if he and the rest of his team was to live through the weekend that he had to find them new accommodations. With Groo and Gwen out on patrol looking for Giles and Buffy Angel expected the hallways to be clear of anyone of any importance.

"What's wrong dad," Connor asked with a very concerned look on his face as he walked up to Angel and caught the look in his eyes.

"Everything," Angel answered without missing a beat as he continued on his way down the hallway towards Spike's room.

"That sounds encouraging," Connor commented with a withdrawn look of concern on his face as he followed after his father.

"About as encouraging as our chances of making it out of all of this in one piece," An unhappy look Spike stated as he walked around the corner and almost collided with Angel.

"Spike, what are you doing…where are the…," Angel started to angrily shout after quickly recovering from the near miss with Spike.

"Relax Peaches, I locked my room up nice and tight…so how'd she take the news," Spike answered briefly before he posed the question that was foremost in his thoughts at that moment.

"Pretty much like I thought she would, we need to move her soon, the sun will be setting in a few hours and I don't want to take any chances, not tonight…," Angel replied calmly with a very driven look of desperation on his face as he walked past Spike and continued on down to the lobby.

"There you are, we got trouble," Morgan shouted over to Angel with a very serious and even slightly scared look on her face as she turned away from the window.

"Lucky us," Angel joked with a sarcastic scowl on his face as he quickly passed through the lobby, wondering oddly why it was empty except for himself, Spike, Connor, Faith, and Morgan.

"Looks like our little game of hide and go seek is over…they found us, and they don't look like they want to play," Faith added with a tone of voice that sounded to Angel more like her usual tone rather than the one that he had heard her use hours earlier in her room.

"Who," Connor asked with a slightly confused look on his face as he raced into the room and looked like he was scanning the room for a weapon when Spike answered.

"Wolfram and Hart…guess their surprise for you was only the beginning," Spike answered with a very serious and impatient scowl on his face as he quickly slid up next to the hotels front door and opened it up just enough to peer out.

"What surprise," A very nervous looking Morgan asked as she curled up into the corner next to Spike and looked ready for anything but a fight.

"Trust me pet, you don't want to know," Spike reassured her with a calm and soothing tone to his voice as he slid a quick smile on his face before he shut the door and turned back to Angel.

"How many," Angel asked with an impatient and anxious expression on his face as he walked up to Spike.

"You're better off not knowing," Spike answered with only a slight smirk on his face as he bolted the door shut and propped a couple of chairs up in front of it to try and serve as a makeshift blockade.

"In other words Angel…we're fucked," Morgan chimed in with a scared smile on her face before she stumbled her way back and away from the door.

"Anyone know where Groo and Gwen are," Faith exclaimed with an unsure look on her face as she hurriedly shut the curtains to the lobby.

"They were supposed to be trailing Buffy and Giles, though right now that's the least of our worries," Angel replied quickly with a slightly shaky voice as he went to the windows and peeked in between the curtains. Sure enough from what he could see the entire street had been blocked off and filled with black vans that seemed to stream forth an endless supply of Wolfram and Hart guards.

"Maybe you should get Nina, in case we have to make a break for it," Connor advised with an equally serious scowl on his face as he glanced back up the stairs.

"She's in no condition to do much of anything right now, I can't ask her to fight," Angel said with a very somber and worried look on his face as he followed Connor's glance up the stairs with one of his own.

"No one's asking you to Peaches, it's just that this isn't Bastogne," Spike declared with a very intense look on his face as he grabbed Angel's shoulder and hauled him back to the center of the lobby.

"Someone better think of something quick because they don't look like they're going to wait much longer," Morgan shouted with a very scared look on her face before three canisters of tear gas came crashing through the window.

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"So what you're saying is that…," Dawn started to say with a nervous look on her face before Xander cut in.

"Is that we should really think hard about where we're going to eat tonight, because I've heard the horror stories about…," Xander interjected with a worried expression on his face as he stood up and walked across the small room before sitting down on the bed beside Dawn.

"All total rubbish Xander, there are plenty of fine places to eat in London, it's just that you probably wouldn't know that from watching American television," Giles replied coldly from the door before Buffy walked out of the bathroom, looking ready to patrol rather than go out and eat.

"Any news," Buffy asked with a happy smile on her face as she slid a stake into one of the pockets on the inside of her coat.

"You could say that, I think that you should come with me first though, something big has turned up," Giles answered with a very grim and almost sick look on his face as he nodded his head.

"Is it something about Angel," Buffy asked with a great deal of interest in her voice as she walked up to Giles and zipped up her coat.

"I'm afraid so Buffy, it seems that what Whistler told you was true, about Angel wanting to change Wolfram and Hart from the inside…or at least attempt to," Giles answered with a very solemn and regretful expression on his face as he jammed his hands into his pockets and gazed out of the window. Instantly all of the air seemed to have left the room, leaving behind an enormous black hole that sucked any and all bits of goodness and hope out of the room. Bringing a hand up to try and squelch her sudden bout of nausea Buffy sidestepped over to the bed and dropped onto it, holding her head in her hands and doing her best to keep from crying.

"Buffy," Xander exclaimed with a start as he immediately dropped the phone book and hurried to the other side of the bed with the intent of comforting Buffy. Dawn slid into place on the other side of Buffy and both tried to understand what had just happened.

"It seems that we were wrong about them the entire time…but unfortunately that's not our only problem," Giles continued with a very glum and depressed scowl on his face as he took a deep breath and walked over to the window.

"What…we forget to turn off the tv before we left Rome," Dawn joked softly with a scared look on her face as she turned her head to look up at Giles.

"If only…no Dawn it's not that at all, it seems that we are being followed, when Kennedy went out to get a newspaper she spotted two people watching her every step," Giles added with a very serious look on his face as he closed the blinds to the window and turned back into the room.

"What…who is it," Buffy asked, more at first as a statement than as a question as she shot up off of the bed and joined Giles at the window.

"I'm not sure…yet, but whoever they are they definitely know what they're doing, the only reason that Kennedy noticed them was because one of them stopped to help an old woman across the street and the other one made a huge fuss about it" Giles answered softly with an unhappy look on his face as he turned his gaze away from the concerned look on Buffy's face and through the window down to the street below.

"Do you think that they're a threat to us, or are they just here to watch us and report back to their master or overlord or whomever," Buffy wondered with a nervous look on her face as she pulled out the stake that she had stuffed into the inside pocket of her coat earlier.

"I'm not sure, from Kennedy's description they didn't strike me as followers, more like hired muscle, the only thing that we're certain of is that they aren't vampires as both stood in direct sunlight," Giles said with an unsure frown on his face as he shrugged his shoulders before he walked back to the door.

"So I guess that the whole going out for dinner tonight thing is off," Dawn asked with an unhappy pout on her face as her shoulders slumped and she turned to Buffy.

"I think that's a pretty safe bet Dawnie, we can't do things like casually going out to dinner when we know that we're being watched," Buffy started to say with a somber frown on her face before the entire area was shaken by what sounded like a bomb blast several blocks away.

END OF CHAPTER 12


	13. Hell Night

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 13-HELL NIGHT**

Every air-breathing member of Angel's motley crew reacted instantly to the introduction of tear gas into the lobby. Faith vaulted herself over the bar in a frantic attempt to put as much distance between her and the tear gas as possible while at the same time trying to find something to block out the fumes. Morgan panicked and soon had to be saved from stumbling into the exact center of the fumes by Spike as he dashed across the lobby, grabbed her rather forcibly by the waist, and crashed through a previously locked door into a storage room. Connor had the sense of mind to make a break for the stairs and keep away from the cloud of tear gas, though the whole way he kept looking back to keep track of where Angel was. Angel was the first to go on the offensive, racing towards the canisters of tear gas. Diving down through the choking cloud Angel picked up the canisters and did his best to throw them as far out of the hotel and back into the street as he could.

"Connor," Angel yelled through the smoke as he turned away from the window and did his best to clear the air of smoke from in front of his face.

"Dad…," Connor shouted out through the still thick cloud as he tried to get a good look down into the lobby from his spot on the stairs.

"Connor, stay where you are, wait until the gas has dissipated," Angel shot back with a very nervous look on his face as he tore his gaze away from what was transpiring out in the street and back towards the staircase.

"Here they come," Spike shouted back over the clamor of the area before a squadron of a dozen Wolfram and Hart elite guardsmen tromped through the opening in the window and through the door. Spike instantly left Morgan where she was and leapt onto the first wave of guards that came through the window, knocking them all to the ground by the force of his attack. Angel followed that up by wrenching one of the tables up off of the floor, spinning it up so that in front of him lay the top of the table acting as an impromptu shield, as he barreled forward towards the guards that had broken down the door to gain access.

"Gotta hand it to ya Angel, you really know how to show a girl a good time," Faith exclaimed with sarcastic glee as she emerged from behind the bar with a double-barreled shotgun in her hands.

"What do you think you're…," Morgan started to shout over the noise of Angel and Spike fighting against the Wolfram and Hart elite guards before Faith answered her with a resounding shotgun blast to the closest guards knee, blowing it completely out and almost severing the leg. The next shot tore through Angel's duster, passing within an inch of his hip before crashing through the tabletop and slamming into the thigh of a guard directly in front of Angel.

"Hey…whose side are you on here," Angel exclaimed with some trepidation as he jumped back out of the way of Faith's next shotgun blast.

"Not sure yet," Faith shouted back with a zealous grin on her face before she pulled the trigger again, found that the gun was empty, and ended up using the weapon as a club, breaking the nose of the first guard that rushed at her with the but of the shotgun.

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Buffy was immediately up on her feet and at the doorway, headed out before Giles or Dawn had even realized what had happened. Giles started to use the bed for leverage to get himself back up to his feet, just as Buffy flung the door open and rushed outside into the hallway. Before Dawn could get back up to her feet Buffy was off racing down the steps like a crazy woman, not waiting for backup or to even plan any sort of strategy other than to react to whatever had just happened. When Buffy got to the lobby she passed Kennedy, who was carefully trying to help Willow back up to her feet, while barely giving Lorne a second glance before she nearly shattered the front windows on her way out.

"Buffy…," Giles gasped out breathlessly as he doubled over at the bottom of the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing, as he tried to catch his breath.

"What just happened," Kennedy asked with a very confused and startled expression on her face as she helped Willow over to the chair beside the one that Lorne was clinging to for dear life.

"It sounded like an explosion," One of the terrified look potentials answered as she took a few baby steps away from the hotel's front doors.

"Yeah…a big one," Another said with a scared look on her face as she walked up to Giles and looked to him to restore order.

"Willow…stay here with the new slayers, you to Kennedy, while Xander, Buffy, and I check out what happened," Giles ordered with a very serious and determined look on his face as he finally got enough air, straightened up and hurried through the lobby.

"What about me," Dawn started to shout with an annoyed scowl on her face as she started to follow Xander and Giles before the two left the hotel and she could only throw her hands up in frustration and stalk back up to her room, hopeful that something about the explosion would be on the news.

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The fight was going about dead even until whoever was running the show for Wolfram and Hart out in the street caught sight of a few news crews and ambulances. Upon setting his sights on them the cavalry was sent in. For Wolfram and Hart that meant the half human, half demon hybrids. The hybrids served as the shock troops for cleaning up messes that the London branch of Wolfram and Hart didn't want the public at large to know about. Angel was first to face the wrath of the hybrids, as when he collided with the first wave he was sent flying back over the bar and crashing down into the collection of bottles of different kinds of liquor. Spike took up the challenge next but was soon also sent flying through the air and straight down into the piano that he had played earlier, knocking out the lid support in the process and so when the legs gave out and the piano crashed down to the floor it almost looked like an odd shaped coffin. Morgan tried to go to Spike's aid but was grabbed from behind by one of the hybrids. It twisted her arm back around until even the dead heard the unmistakable sound of both bones and tendons ripping and breaking. Morgan cried out wildly in pain and dropped to her knees, almost passing out from the pain, as she fought to keep from throwing up while scared shitless tears streamed down her cheeks. Seeing her in trouble Connor leapt into the fray, only to be thrown back through a door leading to a small bathroom. Faith was able to get a couple of shot in with the butt end of her shotgun before one of the hybrids slammed its fist into her stomach, with the small spike on the back of one of its knuckles burying itself into Faith's stomach. As a result she dropped like a rock, gasping in shock as she clutched her stomach and tried to stem the tide of blood while at the same time fighting back the terrifying members of an earlier similar situation. Angel was just about back up to his feet when an ear splitting howl filled the air.

"Oh no…Nina," Angel started to say with a scared look on his face before the form of a fully transformed, and fully enraged Nina, appeared at the bottom of the stairs. The hybrids seemed to pay her little heed at first. But that soon changed when she sprang into action. She gashed open the throat of the first hybrid with her claws all the way to the spinal cord before knocking three down by tackling them and then ripping another's throat out with her jaws. Angel watched the carnage unfolding in front of him in stunned silence, with it only broken as Spike angrily rolled out of the makeshift coffin and tried to get his bearings. Spike started to get up but kept still at the sight of what was unfolding in front of him. One of the hybrids that werewolf Nina had just killed fell on top of Faith, this time as it fell the hybrid moved just enough so that the spike on the back of its knuckle was sent straight through Faith's chest, collapsing her left lung in the process and barely missing her heart. Spike, finally snapping out of his momentary daze, started to go to help Faith but a stream of arrows that flew silently in through the shattered window halted his progress. By the time that the first volley was over Spike had more than half a dozen arrows jutting out of him, although none near enough to his heart to land a fatal blow.

"What is it with the bloody arrows," Spike growled with a very angry sneer on his face as he pulled one of the arrows out of his shoulder and then flung it to the ground.

"Dad," Connor cried out with a panicked expression on his face as he came rushing back out of the bathroom and helped his father to his feet.

"Where's Nina," Angel shouted back in a hurry as he scrambled around the edge of the bar before having to dodge a bench that one of the hybrid's had thrown his way.

"She just left…and we're in no condition to follow," Spike replied with an eerily serious scowl on his face as he shoved a table off of Morgan and tried to see how injured she was.

"We have to get out of here," Connor added with a scared look on his face as he grabbed Angel's arm and tried to pull him back towards the bar.

"NO…we have to find Nina, she…," Angel started to shout with a very angry scowl on his face as he ripped his arm from out of Connor's grasp and was just about to run out into the street after Nina when Spike's words stopped him.

"Can fend for herself Angel, Faith can't," Spike interjected with a very nervous look on his face as he laid a hand on Faith's shoulder and was nearly knocked over by the strength of the smell of blood. Angel started to shout an angry rebuttal but when he looked down and saw the amount of blood that was collecting on the floor beside Faith his baser instincts of survival kicked in.

"Alright we're leaving, get Morgan to the hospital any way that you can Spike, I'll get Faith there myself…Connor, go find Groo and Gwen and update them…when everyone's safe I'm going after Nina," Angel ordered with a very serious and grim scowl on his face as he bent down and picked Faith up as gently as he could.

"Wait for me Wes…won't be long now…," Faith mumbled very weakly as her eyes threatened to close forever.

"No Faith…you're not going anywhere, I won't let you," Angel stated with a very firm tone of voice before he dashed out of a back door of the hotel and disappeared into the night.

"Well kid good luck and happy hunting, don't go and get yourself killed or anything…ole Peaches wouldn't be able to take it," Spike said to Connor with a very serious look on his face before he ushered Morgan out the same way that Angel had left only moments before.

"And we were having such a nice vacation to…," Connor mumbled with a sarcastic smirk on his face before he ran out of the building, only a few moments before another wave of hybrids was sent in.

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At first Buffy was making good time in getting from her hotel to where the explosion had taken place. She couldn't quite place it but she had a funny feeling that the cause of the blast was anything but a burst gas line or something simple like that. Her feet barely touched the ground for a block before she ran into a full traffic jam. After seeing that the sidewalks were just as jammed as the streets she decided on a different course of actions. Yelling out her apologies as she went Buffy ran from car to car, stepping on the hood first and then putting a hand down to help herself hop over the cab of the cars and trucks before jumping from the trunk lid to the hood of the next car. Xander and Giles did their best to keep up but weaving their way in between the almost bumper-to-bumper traffic proved both difficult and time consuming for them. Buffy was almost to the scene when in her hurried attempt to stop she nearly slipped on the hood of a car and almost went sprawling down into the windshield.

"Buffy…look out," Xander shouted out in shock and fear as a rather furious looking werewolf leapt onto the top of a van and reared back its head before howling loudly, its fur thickly coated with blood.

"This could be a problem," Buffy said with an unpleasantly surprised smile on her face as she took a few cautious steps back, hoping that the werewolf wouldn't immediately notice her. She had no such luck.

"Buffy watch out it's…," Giles started to shout in alarm and warning as the werewolf growled at Buffy and then leapt her way. Had she not been the slayer Buffy's life more than likely would have ended right then and there. But because she was the slayer Buffy was just able to jump out of the way, slide across the hood of a nearby car, and drop off to the ground on the other side while the werewolf shattered the windshield of the car that she had just been standing on. The passengers in the car were not so fortunate, as the werewolf pulled the driver out first and then gutted her without much effort.

"Oh God," Xander mumbled under his breath before fought the urge to wretch all over the sidewalk.

"Don't get to close to it Buffy," Giles shouted out above the clamor of sirens, people screaming, and the sounds of the werewolf killing the rest of the people in the car.

"But I can't just let it…," Buffy began to shout back with a worried expression on her face before she was shoved out of the way from behind and interrupted.

"Nina no, don't do this," Gwen exclaimed with a pleading tone to her voice as she leapt up onto the hood of the nearest car that she could and tried to get Nina's attention while Groo was still weaving his way through the maze of cars.

"What do you think you're doing, you can't just…ow," Buffy started to object to being pushed as she scowled heavily and started to jump back up onto the hood of the car along with Gwen but was stopped when Gwen reached back and gave her a jolt.

"You should stay back fair maiden, this creature while most dangerous is actually a friend of ours who would not wish to harm you in the least, please let us handle this," Groo added with a very gracious smile on his face before he pulled a blue blanket from out of the back seat of a nearby car and jumped onto the hood of a car adjacent to the one that Gwen was on.

"Now wait just a minute I…," Buffy started to yell back at Groo while climbing back up onto the hood of the car beside him before she was interrupted again.

"Nina stop…stay there," Connor exclaimed with a very nervous and slightly unsure look on his face as he struggled to climb over the sea of cars in between himself and Nina while she looked around warily, obviously getting quite anxious at the number of people popping up around her.

"Ya know guys, I really hate it when people keep interrupting me," Buffy stated with a very firm and annoyed tone of voice as she grabbed Groo's arm and started to forcefully make him turn and face her before Nina took the sudden change of surroundings to her advantage and took off down the street over the cars and away from Buffy and the others.

"Damn…I thought you had her," Gwen growled with a very angry scowl on her face as she glared over at Connor.

"Me…you two were supposed to tail them so that something like this wouldn't happen," Connor shot back with an equally angry glare as Groo just shook his head in dismay.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on here…Buffy," Xander asked with a scared and confused look on his face as he finally wove his way up to beside Buffy, with Giles not far behind.

"Buffy…Buffy Summers…the vampire slayer," Gwen asked with a surprised but yet cautious look on her face as more than once she looked back and forth between Buffy and Connor and Groo before sizing Buffy up.

"You've heard of me," Buffy asked with a bewildered look on her face as she let go of Groo's arm and turned to face Gwen.

"More or less…we should get going and find her before she scratches or bites someone," Gwen replied with a look that seemed to say that she could care less about Buffy before she turned back to Connor and looked down the street to where Nina had just gone.

"You mean instead of outright massacring them like these three poor people," Giles demanded with a look of some unhappiness and disgust on his face as he knelt down and gently closed the eyes of the youngest victim.

"One werewolf is more than enough for us, we had enough problems at the hotel, we need to collar Nina until she becomes human again and then find my father, he took Faith to a hospital…," Connor answered with a very grim and deadly serious expression on his face as he made up the distance between them all and amidst the stares of those still in their cars, huddled down in total fear, refused to look at Buffy, Giles, or Xander.

"Faith's hurt…how badly," Giles spoke up with a concerned look on his face as it was obvious that he had gone into full on watcher mode again.

"Pretty bad, she was stabbed twice by two Wolfram and Hart special guards, there was blood everywhere…Angel," Connor started to reply with a steadily growing look of concern on his face before a werewolf howl from a couple of blocks away interrupted him.

"Angel…wait, Angel's here," Xander interjected with a worried look on his face as he turned back to Giles and his face grew pale.

"What hospital, what hospital did he take Faith to, Connor…," Gwen asked with a very pointed look on her face as she slid her glove back on.

"I don't know, he just told us all what to do and left with her, Morgan is hurt pretty badly to…she couldn't move her arm, we need to go," Connor replied with a nervous and hurried look on his face before he turned away from Gwen and raced off down the street after Nina.

"Why did Wolfram and Hart attack you, I thought that you worked for them…," Xander wondered aloud with a confused look on his face as he did his best to not look at any of the bodies on the street beside him.

"Since when did Wolfram and Hart ever need a reason to attack someone, come on…," Gwen shot back with a grumpy pout on her face before she nodded her head sharply at Groo and then took off after Connor, leaving Groo to follow after her moments later before Buffy or Giles could ask another question.

END OF CHAPTER 13


	14. Ramifications

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer-I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Morgan and Katy.**

Wesfan1234-Both groups aren't really together, Buffy and the others have only seen Connor, Gwen, and Groo. They still don't know about Spike being there or Morgan. Thanks for reviewing and as for Angel…well he…has had it with playing by the rules…and thanks for reviewing, glad you like the story. 

**CHAPTER 14-RAMIFICATIONS**

Angel angrily paced up and down the hallway outside of the waiting room. He had tried to stay in there for a little over an hour but his nerves had ended up being too much. To many of those that he considered kin had spent far too much time in hospitals in his eyes. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Cordelia, and Wesley had all spent time in the hospital because of something that he had done. But now having delivered Faith into the emergency room for the second time in less than a week his frayed nerves had worn out. Faith had been rushed into the emergency room and put under in what seemed like the blink of an eye. The forms that the nurse had handed him to fill out had ended up being thrown into the trash, with Angel knowing it would be best for everyone if Faith's existence within the building was kept under the tightest web of security possible. Luckily he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary within the hospital for the first hour after he had brought Faith in. However that did not last another hour. Not five minutes after a quarter past eleven Angel caught a scent that he had come to know well, Wolfram and Hart teams systematically making their way through the building. Not feeling in the least like playing nicely, or by the rules, Angel slid his game face on and decided to work off some of his frustration. The hospital morgue would add several bodies to its collection before the night was over.

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Buffy had done her best to keep up with Connor and the others, who were having their own trouble following Nina's path of destruction. As they ran through the streets the signs of Nina's presence were unmistakable. At nearly every street corner there was a large crowd of people that surrounded what was left of an innocent pedestrian that had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. As she ran Buffy hoped that both the morning would come soon and that Giles had regrouped and found the services of either a taxi or some other vehicle because London was too big of a town to chase a rather pissed off werewolf around all night. As she went she began to be amazed at how the three people that she had just met were able to not only keep up with her but in fact be ahead of her and not seem to be slowing down to readily. The young man that had confronted her earlier looked driven beyond repute in his tracking of the werewolf. She was just about to momentarily stop to catch her breath when the werewolf doubled back and began to come back her way.

"Least I don't have to chase you all over London anymore," Buffy gasped out with a tired look on her face as she bent over slightly and tried to catch her breath.

"What are you doing here," Gwen growled sharply with a less than thrilled scowl on her face as she and Groo ran around the corner and almost ran into Buffy.

"Could ask you the same thing, what's going on here, why are you trying to catch that werewolf, one of Wolfram and Hart's experiments gone awry," Buffy demanded with an impatient expression on her face as she refused to physically back down from Gwen.

"She has nothing to do with Wolfram and Hart, she's a friend of a friend," Gwen replied coldly as she pulled off both of her gloves and turned away from Buffy.

"Actually a girlfriend of a friend, who would be most unhappy if something were to happen to her," Groo added with a concerned smile on his face as he looked around the sidewalk for a weapon.

"You want to tell her everything else while you're at it," Gwen grumbled with a very sarcastic and scathing sneer on her face as he glared over at Groo, who looked down at the ground and shrank away slightly from her glare. Groo started to respond with a sullen look on his face but Nina interrupted him by hurling what was left of a human torso at them. Buffy ducked behind a car while Gwen ducked in through the open door of a business as someone was beginning to open the door to leave. Groo stood his ground but only turned sideways to avoid being struck by the torso.

"Buffy," Xander exclaimed with a very nervous expression on his face as Giles slammed on the brakes and stopped the car right beside Buffy.

"Don't move, she's coming back this way," Buffy shouted back with a very serious and concerned look on her face as she straightened up just a bit but stayed behind the parked car.

"How do you know it's a she," Giles asked with an impatient look on his face as he slowly opened the car door.

"Because she's Angel girlfriend alright…now stay in the damn car," Gwen sneered back with a very angry scowl on her face before Nina leapt forward onto a car only three car lengths in front of Giles and Xander.

"Angel's what," Buffy choked out with a look of surprise and total disbelief on her face as she spun around to look questioningly at Gwen.

"Girlfriend, now stay down," Gwen quickly replied with a hurried look on her face before she ran forward towards Nina, hoping that she could get lucky enough to get one good shot in and knock Nina out so that they could get her to the holding cell that she and Groo had found earlier.

"Nina stop…please," Connor shouted with what little breath he had left in his body as he leaned up against a light pole in an attempt to try and catch his breath.

"Stay back Connor, dealing with Angel's girlfriend's bad enough, I am not going to let you get yourself killed trying to…," Gwen started to shout over to Connor before Nina leapt her way. Falling flat on her back, and scraping her elbows, Gwen soon found herself looking straight up into the snarling face of a rather pissed off werewolf.

"Don't move," Giles started to say with an extremely nervous look on his face as with his left hand he started to shut the car door and with his right hand he moved it from the steering wheel to the keys still dangling in the ignition.

"Sorry honey…but you're not my type," Gwen whispered softly up to Nina with a scared smile on her face before she reached out, grabbed Nina by the ankle and wrist, and sent every volt left in her body into Nina. Nina was caught completely by surprise and howled in alarm before she was knocked out and landed with a thud on the ground beside the curb. For her part Gwen was left completely drained of energy and passed out before Nina even hit the ground.

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Katy awoke, unbound, on what felt like a very nice and soft bed. She puzzled at the sudden change of surroundings and décor. She rubbed her red and sore wrists and was thankful that she was no longer bound and gagged in the back of a moving van. She did not remember any of the plane ride or have any idea where she was but for some reason Katy felt completely safe, if a bit out of place. Her head was still a bit off and when she went to stand up she had to quickly sit back down lest she collapse to the floor. Her legs would support her but she felt dizzy standing up. She was about to try again when the door to the room opened and a middle aged man wearing a cape and wielding a sword stepped into her room.

"Stay away from me," Katy shouted loudly with a great amount of fear and confusion in her voice as she scrambled back across the bed before finally falling off the other side onto the floor.

"Huh…oh sorry, really sorry," The man exclaimed at first in surprise before the smile fell from his face as he saw Katy staring at his sword. Quickly he laid the sword down on the dresser beside the bed and backed away from it.

"Who are you…where am I, what do you want with me…where's Illyria," Katy demanded with what she hoped was a very firm and threatening tone of voice, even though she kept herself hidden behind the bed.

"I'm sorry for everything, the men that I hired weren't supposed to hurt you, I told them to be discreet about getting you here…guess I didn't convey that properly to them before they left," The man replied with a sheepish smile on his face as for the first time since he stepped foot into the room it looked to Katy as if he wasn't sure exactly what to do.

"No shit…now answer me, who are you and why…," Katy continued with a steadily growing look of anger on her face as she lifted herself up from behind the bed just a bit.

"I truly am sorry about all of this miss, David…David Nabbit, my name is David Nabbit, you're in my new country estate in London, I brought you here because you're a slayer, they…Wolfram and Hart was going to get you if I didn't do something," David answered with a nervous smile on his face as he pulled a chair out from beneath the desk and sat down.

"You know about me…about slayers, and Wolfram and Hart," Katy asked softly as she slowly stood up put a hand out onto the nightstand for support.

"Oh yes, I've known about slayers for years, ever since my college days when I came into possession of a really ancient text, it took me awhile to get it deciphered but in it there were passages that mentioned someone called they slayer, a young girl that was the protector of light and humanity and all that is good…I pretty much forgot about all of that until a few years ago when I got into a…rather sticky situation and was lucky enough that a vampire with a soul named Angel and his friends helped me out of it…ever since then I…," David replied with a nervous at first but then quickly growing look of eagerness to explain himself on his face as he bubbled out his history to Katy, who remained silent and tried her best to take it all in and judge if David was a threat to her or not.

"A vampire with a soul," Katy wondered aloud with a confused and shocked look on her face as she sat down on the bed and looked over at David.

"Yeah cool…isn't it," David exclaimed with a very cheesy grin on his face as he quickly nodded his head before the door opened and a groggy, but walking Illyria walked in, looking mostly none the worse for wear.

"Ja…Illyria," Katy shouted with a great amount of happiness and relief in her voice before she tried to stand up but found that her legs still were not strong enough and had to sit back down on the bed.

"Be still Katy, I am well," Illyria said with a serious but not angry look on her face as she walked further into the room and sat down on the bed beside Katy.

"See Katy, you're both okay…now if you'll excuse me I need to speak to my assistants about getting you something to eat and some new clothes," David said with an optimistic smile on his face before he stood, nodded his head, and left the room.

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Spike had gotten Morgan to a hospital quickly enough, ushering her into the emergency room over the shouted protests of the nurse on duty. He had barged through the front doors of the hospital, knocking Morgan's foot up against the door because he hadn't waited for it to open wide enough yet. She had yelped a bit in pain, mostly because the contact with the door had shaken her body just enough to make her shoulder and arm twinge. By the time that Spike was able to get Morgan to the emergency room her arm had already begun to swell up and turn every shade of black and blue in the color palette. The doctor's had immediately given her something for the pain and within twenty minutes she had been wheeled off to surgery two floors up. Stalking back and forth in the waiting room was all that Spike could do while doing his best to avoid trying to fill out the paperwork that the disgruntled nurse had handed him after the doctor's had taken Morgan away. He didn't have a clue as other than her name, the fact that she was a slayer, and that her heart rate would greatly increase every time that he stood close to her he knew absolutely nothing about her. As he walked he twirled the pen that she had given him around again and again, hoping that no one would notice the fact that if his duster billowed out just enough that the fact that the sides of his shirt were covered with blood would become known and the authorities would be alerted. That was the last thing that he needed at that moment, trying to evade the police while protecting Morgan at the same time. As he paced he kept an eye on the large panel of windows that made up one wall of the room, making sure that he knew exactly how far sunrise was away. He hoped that Angel had gotten Faith to another hospital in time and that she was okay, mostly because he knew how her death would adversely affect Angel but also because their ranks were small enough as is and he felt that they couldn't afford to lose anyone. He was just about to walk up to the nurse's station to ask how much longer Morgan would be in surgery when the familiar scent of gun oil caught his attention, and it wasn't coming from the guards.

"William the Bloody, stay where you are," A rather gruff voice announced as three people stepped into the waiting room.

"And if I don't," Spike teased with a slightly unsure grin on his face as he lifted his leg and leaned forward a bit, mimicking that he was about ready to take a step forward.

"Then you will never see Buffy again," Another voice said with an almost taunting tone to his voice before Spike turned around and knew instantly who had spoken.

"Bloody hell," Spike grumbled with an annoyed scowl on his face as his hands balled up into fists and he prepared himself for anything.

"It's nice to finally meet face to face…isn't it William, after waiting so long," The man said with an arrogant smirk on his face as he stepped forward and pulled of his gloves.

"That remains to be seen, maybe we should see just how…immortal, you really are," Spike snapped back with a defiant and confrontational sneer on his face as he spun around and looked ready to fight.

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"Where are you taking her," Giles asked with a very serious expression on his face as he got out of the car and looked ahead to where Connor and Groo were hurriedly loading Nina up into the back of a commandeered station wagon while Buffy and Xander hurried over to Gwen.

"Somewhere safe, where she won't hurt anyone else until morning," Connor replied with a frustrated look on his face as he cautiously closed the back hatch and turned back to Giles.

"I will take her," Groo added with a concerned look on his face as he slowly bent down and carefully picked Gwen up off of the sidewalk, before hurrying over to the car.

"I'm coming with you," Buffy announced with a very firm and assertive tone of voice as she stood up and followed Groo over to the car.

"No…you're not," Connor shot back with a very convinced and unwavering edge to his voice as he pulled open the door and got behind the wheel, picking the keys up off of the dashboard.

"If you think that I'm just going to take you at your word that no on else will get hurt tonight then…," Buffy started to say with a very defiant scowl on her face as she pulled open the back door and put one foot in.

"I said no, this is not your fight, you chose to turn your back and walk away from my father when he needed you most…so do us all a favor…and keep walking," Connor stated with a very serious and unwavering edge to his voice as he started to open his door back up.

"Turn my back on your father…what are you talking about, I don't even know your…," Buffy started to vehemently protest before Connor spun his head around and she suddenly noticed how familiar his looked seemed. "N…no, it can't be…you can't be," Buffy stammered out with a completely surprised and overwhelmed look on her face as she took a couple of stagger steps backwards but kept her gaze locked firmly on Connor.

"I can't and I shouldn't be but I am," Connor replied calmly, although with a certain bit of disdain and annoyance in his voice seeming to suggest that he was loathe to acknowledge his parentage again to those he barely knew.

"Angel's son…but that's impossible, right Giles," Xander exclaimed with a very confused and nervous look on his face as he opened his door, stood up, and turned to look over the top of the car at Giles.

"Yes Xander…completely impossible," Giles replied with a very stunned and stupefied look on his face as his mind raced as to how it would be possible for a vampire to have a son.

"Is he a vampire," Xander asked with a nervous look on his face as he fumbled for the stake that he had shoved into his pocket on the way out of Buffy's room earlier.

"Do I look like a vampire to you," Connor snapped with a increasingly angry scowl on his face as he slid back into his seat and slammed the car door.

"Not really but I've been fooled before," Xander mumbled with a scared look on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets and looked off down the street.

"Why does that not surprise me…you really are an idiot," Connor grumbled with a slightly astonished expression on his face as he shook his head and started the car.

"Hey," Xander shouted with a slightly angry scowl on his face as he shifted his gaze from Giles to Connor, before the latter put the car into gear and tore off down the road and away from Buffy, Giles, and Xander.

END OF CHAPTER 14


	15. A Change Of Address

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Morgan and Katy.**

Wesfan1234-The groups will be getting together soon, except that a couple very important things have to happen first, as to Wes…well you know that you can't keep a good ex-watcher down for long don't ya…and Dawn's about to get a shock…

**CHAPTER 15-A CHANGE OF ADDRESS**

She slipped her sweaty, dirty, and grimy jeans off as she slowly walked into the bathroom. She marveled at the size of the room by itself alone. The bathroom that she now found herself in was larger than her living room and kitchen in her apartment. She shut the door and stripped off what little clothing she had left on. David had come up a few moments earlier with a large shopping bag full of clothes, some of them with labels attached to them that Katy had only read through store windows. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, pouting and scowling at the various assortment of bumps, bruises, cuts, and scrapes that now marred her usually overly pampered skin. She still looked the part of a Russia to southern California transplant that had found lucrative work as an exotic dancer but in her mind she knew without a shadow of a doubt that those days were firmly and forever behind her. She shook her head sadly and pulled her hair tie out before she stepped into the shower and turned the water on. She spent longer than she thought that she probably should have in the shower, long enough so that afterwards every mirror in her room was fogged over.

"Oops," Katy quipped with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face as she wrapped the towel around her and slowly made her way back out into what she had been told was now her room. She dumped the bag out onto the bed and sifted through the mound of shoes and other clothing before she picked out the raciest pieces of lingerie that she could find and then pulled on a comfortable pair of blue jeans and a two sizes two big sweater over top. She did her best to squeeze the rest of the water out of her hair before she put on a little bit of makeup and ventured downstairs. She had visited great mansions when she was a little girl in Russia but she soon discovered that none of them could compare to the building that she now found herself in.

"You're new here…right," A young blonde woman asked with a nervous look on her face as she just a few feet from Katy, arms full of books, and her left leg leaning out at a slightly odd angle.

"Uh…yeah, and you are," Katy answered with a nervous look on her face before she turned the question around on the young blonde woman, who looked scared for a moment before she set the large amount of books that were in her arms down on a table nearby and did her best to make herself presentable.

"Michelle, Michelle Currington, pleased to me you," Michelle replied with a somewhat hesitant smile on her face as she held out her hand, which after thinking about it for a moment Katy extended her own hand and the two shook hands awkwardly.

"Are you a…you know," Katy asked under her breath with a nervous expression on her face as she slowly pulled her hand back and slipped it back into one of her pockets before she almost ashamedly slid her pants further up her hips until her thong didn't show any longer as she felt undressed next to Michelle, who looked ready for a day at private school.

"A slayer…yeah, except you wouldn't think it given my condition, the lower to bones of my leg were so twisted when I was born that I've walked with a limp my entire life, for a while I had the false hope that if I were to become the slayer then my leg would be fixed," Michelle replied with a sad look in her eyes even though she smiled sheepishly on the outside.

"Sorry it didn't work," Katy said with a sympathetic look on her face as she tried her best to not stare at the awkward way that Michelle stood.

"Thanks but I'm past all that now, I know that I'll never be one of the great slayers like Buffy Summers, but I can still be useful in other ways," Michelle replied with a cheerful smile on her face before she picked up one of the books that she had been carrying and handed it to Katy.

"Slayers Throughout The Ages…hmm, catchy title," Katy joked with a half-hearted smile on her face as she turned the book around and read the title.

"Very funny, that book is one of two that details the lives of the slayers from the founding of the new world to today, it's very old…so be very careful with it," Michelle said back with a rather stern look on her face before she picked up another book.

"What one is that, slayer etiquette," Katy wondered with a humorous smile on her face as she handed the first book back to Michelle before taking the next one that she handed her.

"No, that book is in this stack, quite a good read actually, but I think that since you're new that you'll want to read this book first, it explains all about what a slayer is, how she's chosen and what all of it means," Michelle corrected Katy with a slightly frustrated frown on her face as she shook her head and put the book that she had just taken from Katy back to its spot on the top of the pile of books that she had previously been carrying around.

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"Should we have followed them," Xander asked with a tired yawn as he stretched out in the chair in the lobby that Lorne had been sitting in earlier.

"No, we didn't know where they were going and we have responsibilities that they don't, like guiding the new slayers," Giles replied with a tired yawn as he shook his head and rubbed his tired and weary eyes.

"Besides what we should be focusing our attention on is finding Angel, now that we know for a face that he's here we can scour the hospitals until we find Faith, and she'll lead us to him," Buffy said with a very serious look on her face while Willow sat in the other chair opposite to Xander and clicked away on her computer, bringing up a list of all of the hospitals within the London city limits and trying to get information about everyone brought in that night. She had only begun her search when Lorne walked into the lobby and spoke up.

"Just leave them alone sugarplum, right now Angel doesn't want to be found…by anyone," Lorne interjected with a solemn frown on his face as he rubbed his hands together slowly and shook his head.

"I don't care Lorne, I have to find him and sort all of this out, he needs to know that we…I, did not turn my back on him, I made a mistake, I didn't know the whole story, and by the time that I did it was to late, and now that I know that I'm going to do everything in my power to remedy that," Buffy shot back with a very serious and guilty expression on her face as she began to angrily pace back and forth in the middle of the hotel lobby.

"You can't bring Cordelia, Fred, Gunn, or Wesley back from the dead…there's a pretty substantial probability that you won't be able to mend the fence with Angel and that he won't want anything to do with you," Lorne said with a very calm and confidant look on his face as he took a deep breath and turned to look over at Willow.

"But once we explain things to him, that we never knew that he called, that we're still on his side then we can take on this phantom adversary of his together," Willow said with a nervous and hopeful look on her face as she looked up from her computer screen and smiled as Kennedy walked down the last few steps and into the lobby.

"I'm afraid that it don't work that way cupcake, ya see Angel is fighting against the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart, a group that will stop at nothing…and I mean nothing, to wipe him out of existence, along with anyone that gets in their way…namely you," Lorne countered with a very grim and unhappy pout on his face as he half heartedly smiled down at Willow before he looked around the lobby and wished that there was a bar somewhere nearby.

"But how could Angel make an agreement with people like that, knowing how they operate," Kennedy asked with a confused and not very impressed look on her face as she walked over and sat down on the armrest of the chair that Willow was sitting in.

"There were…extenuating circumstances, circumstances that you could never understand," Lorne answered with a sad and grim frown on his face as he walked over to the nearest window and stared out.

"Really, like what," Kennedy demanded with an impatient and demanding grin on her face, as she marched right up to Lorne and stared him straight in the face.

"Being a parent, having to watch your only child being continuously led astray before finally…having to…before having to kill your own son to save others that you didn't even know," Lorne calmed shot back at the new slayer without the slightest amount of venom, anger, or untruthfulness in his voice as Kennedy stood completely still in front of him, totally entrapped by his words.

"Angel killed him, but how, Buffy and Xander and Giles said that," Willow began to ask with a very confused and somewhat concerned expression on her face as she closed her laptop computer and stared up at Lorne.

"What…you think that you're the only one that can bring people back, alter reality…well sorry honey, but you're not, Angel signed us all on to Wolfram and Hart so that his son could get a normal life, if only for a little while…and the only reason that I know any of this is because I overheard Angel and Wesley talking about it when they thought that everyone else had gone home for the night," Lorne calmly replied back, with a very solemn and somber look in his eyes, before he wiped away a tear and leaned up against the counter.

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Angel washed the blood from the Wolfram and Hart guards off of his hands and then walked back out of the bathroom. He had been discreet about disposing of the bodies, sliding them into any vacant drawer in the morgue that he could find. Before he had shut the door on them all he had searched through their pockets and unfortunately come up with nothing. He returned to the waiting room and leaned up against a corner right near the nurse's station, mostly because that was the only location free of the sunlight that streamed in through the bank of windows on the far side of the room.

"So how is she," Spike asked softly with a tired edge to his voice as he leaned up against the other corner, just out of the suns reach.

"Not sure yet, but she's a fighter, she'll make it," Angel replied with a nervous look on his face as he desperately hoped that his answer was correct.

"We…have a problem," Spike said slowly with a nervous expression on his face as he leaned away from the wall and stood fully up.

"Pray tell, what now," Angel wondered with a very frustrated scowl on his face as he angrily shook his head and looked over at Spike.

"It seems that when Buffy left Rome and came to London she didn't tell her new beau a good enough lie, because he's here, and up to his old tricks, we had a word while Morgan was getting her injuries looked at," Spike answered with a grim frown on his face as he walked across the small entryway and leaned his back up against the wall beside Angel, who looked surprised to say the least.

"You met him…in person," Angel asked with a stunned and unpleasantly surprised feeling in the pit of his stomach as he turned to face his grandchild.

"Yeah, gotta say that he wasn't what I expected, thought he'd be taller somehow, but he's wickedly powerful Angel, I could feel something nipping at the edges of my mind the whole time that we were talking, haven't felt anything like that since ole blue was around," Spike replied with a solemn and unhappy look on his face as he fished around in his pocket for a cigarette, even though there wasn't one there.

"Illyria…wait, where's Morgan," Angel mumbled back softly with a very confused furrowing of his brows before he looked up at Spike.

"Waiting in the car, her arms in a sling the size of Texas and they've got her on enough drugs that she won't feel anything till next Christmas, but other than that she'll be fine, slayer healing and all," Spike said back with an optimistic smirk on his face before he pulled his hands out of his duster.

"Are you sure she's safe," Angel asked softly with a cautious look on his face before an oddly familiar scent caught his attention and he started to spin around and away from Spike.

"I guarantee it Angel, have I ever let you down before," David announced proudly with an overenthusiastic grin plastered across his face as he hurried up to Angel, still wearing the cape that Katy had last seen him in.

"D…David, what are you doing here," Angel asked with a very surprised look on his face as inwardly he wondered how much crazier could his day get.

"Coming to the aid of a fellow demon fighter in his time of need," David said back with an eager smile on his face as he patted Angel on the shoulder.

"But how did you know where I was, I kept Faith's name off of the register and made sure that the nurse changed just enough so that anyone checking the hospitals wouldn't find us," Angel asked with a concerned look on his face as he turned and looked past Spike and down the hallway through the small rectangular window in the set of double doors just behind Spike.

"I tracked you down Peaches, not that hard, given the little bloodbath in the morgue," Spike replied with a slightly nervous shrug of his shoulders before the doctor that had taken Faith up to surgery walked into the waiting room and looked around.

"How is she," Angel demanded with a very serious look on his face as he quickly skirted through the open patch of sunlight and approached the doctor.

"Despite her injuries she should be fine, but whatever she was stabbed with went deep enough to knick her kidney, it was so damaged that we had to remove it, but what really surprised me is that near the end of the surgery it seemed that her body was already starting to heal itself…I've never seen anything like that before," The doctor replied with a serious but stunned look on his face as he quickly recovered from Angel's sudden charging towards him.

"Can we see her," Spike quickly asked with an impatient frown on his face as he warily eyed the line of the sunlight on the floor as it slowly began to creep towards his boot.

"I'm afraid that you can't just yet, she's still in intensive care," The doctor answered with a tired look in his eyes before David spoke up.

"Is she well enough to be transferred, we have excellent facilities at the mansion, I know that my sister would heal better and feel faster if she could recuperate at home," David interjected with a sympathetic pout on his face as he stepped up beside Angel and smiled.

"Not right now, but in a few hours if she keeps healing as fast as she did in the operating room then if we took it very slowly then…maybe," The doctor answered with a slightly confused and unsure look on his face as he looked Angel over first and then David.

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"Whoa…never seen them before," Michelle said with a look of awe on her face as her eyes glazed over while she looked over the railing of the second floor down into the entryway.

"What are you talking…whoa," Katy started to ask with a frustrated and anxious look on her face before she looked where Michelle was pointing. For a brief moment both young slayers gazed hungrily down at the two vampires with souls, both of whom were at least a hundred years older than both girls put together.

"Nice place ya got here," Spike said with an approvingly sarcastic smile on his face as he took in his surroundings, even the two young lady's drooling all over themselves up on the upper level.

"Thanks," David replied with a very nervous smile on his face as he shut the door behind them and relaxed.

"Friends of yours," Angel asked with an odd look on his face as he nodded his head in Katy and Michelle's general direction.

"Yes, they are fellow demon hunters, they," David started to answer with a very excited and proud grin on his face before Michelle cut in.

"Actually Katy and I here are both slayers, Mr. Nabbit here has graciously taken us in to keep us safe," Michelle interjected with a polite but very nervous smile on her face as she limped down the stairs, followed closely behind by Katy.

"Ya don't say," Spike said with a tired expression on his face before he turned back just in time to see Gwen, Groo, and Connor walk into the entryway from one of the side rooms.

"Dad," Connor said with a relieved look on his face as he walked up to Angel before he was enveloped in a quick hug, one that he awkwardly returned.

"Are you okay, where's Nina," Angel asked with a worried look on his face as he let go of Connor and turned to Gwen and Groo.

"You're girl's fine Angel, second floor third door on the right, she's sleeping right now," Gwen replied with a tired look on her face before she couldn't help but yawn widely and lean lightly up against Groo's shoulder, her head drooping forward slightly.

"Which is exactly what all of us should be doing, we should be safe here for awhile," Angel said with a tired look on his face as his shoulders drooped forward just a bit.

"Good idea Angel, but first there's someone that's been asking about you since she got here, she's in the study," David agreed at first with a yawn of his own before he began to walk out of the entryway and down a long hallway. Angel reluctantly followed him after glancing up the stairs at the door of the room that Nina was in. Spike and the others walked closely behind him before David quickly pushed open the study's doors.

"Angel…I am Illyria, reborn into a new body," Illyria announced with an eerily calm look on her face as she stood up and changed her clothing from the outfit that Angel and Spike had seen her wear while she resembled Fred to an outfit that she had seen in one of the magazines that she had found in the back of the closet of the room that she had awoken in. Luckily for her she had chosen to change her outfit into one from the historical magazine instead of from the other, more expressive one.

"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled, partially in shock and partially in surprise, as he did his best not to stare at just how much Illyria had changed since looking like Fred. Angel as well was having trouble adjusting to the vast difference between Illyria's two shell's before something that sat on top of a small stack of papers on a desk on the other side of the room caught his eye.

"It can't be…the Axis of Pythia," Angel stuttered with a very stunned and surprised look on his face as he hurried over to the table and cautiously picked the object up, pleased to find that his assessment had indeed been correct. He however barely heard Michelle's nervous admission of, "Oh that…I uh, was using it as a paperweight."

END OF CHAPTER 15


	16. Feelings Told And Who To Trust

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 16-FEELINGS TOLD AND WHO TO TRUST**

After checking in on Nina, an act that took all day as he walked into the room and saw her huddled up in her sheets, shaking like she was cold, Angel could not leave without comforting her. After making sure the shades were completely shut Angel slipped under the covers beside Nina and took her into his arms, hoping that his presence would calm her. After a while it did. When he finally got down into the library to more closely inspect the Axis Spike was seated in a chair on the totally opposite side of the room from Illyria, who was now trying different things to keep her shoulder length orange hair from obscuring her field of vision. Angle wasn't quite sure what to make of the new Illyria, more than once he had to force himself to not stare at her best assets, as he slid into a seat beside Spike.

"Do you find this as insane as I do," Angel whispered to Spike under his breath as he picked up a random book.

"You mean insane as in how blue went from Dora the Explorer to Elvira with the…with the uh," Spike stammered out with a nervous and uncomfortable shifting in his seat before both he and Angel looked away as Illyria glanced up their way.

"Something like that yeah," Angel mumbled back with an awkward and anxious frown on his face as he quickly nodded his head and did his best to bury himself in the book that he was holding, without realizing that he was holding it upside down.

"Now while the Axis has the uncanny ability to locate souls and entities across time and space it does not however possess the ability to pull those souls or entities back into our dimension, to do that we'd need something to focus the particular souls energy and then a physical anchor in this world," Michelle announced loudly with a very proud smile on her face as she traced the lines on the page with her index finger as she deciphered them.

"Focus as in a person using magic to focus the souls energy or a talisman of some kind," Spike asked with a bored tone to his voice as he kept his gaze locked onto the passage of the book that he was skimming.

"A demon or person skilled in the dark arts is need to draw the soul back from its present location to our dimension and hold it here until the anchor, well…anchors it here," Michelle replied with a happy look on her face before Spike smiled at her and she ducked back behind the book and blushed furiously.

"Great…why does everything have to come down to magic," Connor grumbled with a nervous and unhappy scowl on his face as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"It's simple Connor, they probably don't want just anybody being able to bring someone back from another dimension so they restrict it to just the powerful magic types, now our only problem is finding someone that's skilled in the dark arts that would actually work with us," Spike replied with a nervous and anxious frown on his face as he slowly put the book that he was skimming down and turned to Connor.

"Willow," Angel uttered with a look of total seriousness on his face as he shut the book that he was looking at and glanced over at the Axis.

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"And just where do you think you're going," Buffy demanded with a nervous look on her face as she caught up to Dawn in the hotel's lobby.

"Out to get a bite, there's this great little restaurant a couple of blocks from here, I'll only be gone for a few minutes, nothing will happen," Dawn answered with an unhappy scowl on her face as after momentarily stopping her way out of the hotel continued on her way.

"You shouldn't go alone, take Willow with you," Buffy shot back with a serious and unwavering look on her face as she hurried forward and barred Dawn's exit out of the building just as Willow shook her head and stood up from the chair that Lorne had been sitting in earlier.

"But Buffy…I'm not a child," Dawn protested with an angry scowl on her face as she crossed her arms and stomped her foot.

"I know you're not Dawn, but right now we don't know exactly what's going on and who our enemy is, until we do it wouldn't be wise to send anyone out alone," Buffy said with a very serious look on her face as she braced herself for Dawn's temper.

"You mean anyone that isn't a slayer," Dawn snapped back with a hurt pout on her face before she pushed past Buffy and slipped out into the street.

"Dawn," Buffy shouted in alarm as she recovered from Dawn's sudden act and started to turn around to follow her younger sister but was stopped by Willow.

"It's okay Buffy, I won't let anything happen to her," Willow interjected with a slightly nervous look on her face as she gave Buffy a quick hug and then slipped out of the hotel and after Dawn.

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"So how exactly are we supposed to convince this friend of yours to come with us and perform a very dangerous spell to get Wesley back," Gwen asked with an impatient frown on her face as she sulked in the back of the car while Angel drove and a tired and somber Nina occupied the front passenger seat.

"We ask her real nicely…and if she says no, well we've got that covered to," Spike slowly replied with an anxious expression on his face as he patted a bulge in his coat and Gwen saw a flash of silver sticking out of a pocket on the interior side of the duster at about chest level.

"What's that supposed to mean," Nina asked quite pointedly before feeling ashamed and turning back to stare out of the passenger window, tightly gripping the axe that Angel had given her.

"Nothing much, just that there's no way that we're going home empty-handed," Spike replied slowly after an awkward silence as he caught the gaze of Angel for a moment in the rear view mirror before he looked over out of the window and saw Dawn and Willow enter a small restaurant on the corner.

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Dawn rushed into the small restaurant first, interested in getting to the counter and ordering what she wanted before Willow caught up with her and dishing out whatever angry message that Buffy had given her. She wasn't really in the mood for pizza but she felt that she needed to get some air and get out from under Buffy's at times overprotective shadow.

"Slow down Dawnie, where's the fire," Willow exclaimed with a slightly out of breath look on her face as doubled over to catch her breath and let the door shut behind her.

"I don't care what she told you to tell me Willow, I'm not a child," Dawn angrily shot back with an annoyed pout on her face before she walked over and got into the short line leading to the counter.

"She knows that Dawnie, she's just scared about what's could happen to you, she just wants you to be safe," Willow replied with a nervous and pained look on her face as she straightened up and joined Dawn in the line.

"I know Willow, fragile little Dawn, needs to be coddled and protected like she's glass," Dawn angrily mumbled back with an impatient frown on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and was about to add something when she was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"She's right, wouldn't want a fragile little thing like you to get hurt, you just might shatter," Gwen interjected with an innuendo filled tone to her voice as she stepped up into line behind Willow and Dawn and did her best to not appear threatening, something that only lasted for about three seconds.

"Who are you," Willow demanded with a very serious look on her face as she stepped in front of Dawn and prepared a spell in the back of her mind, just in case.

"It depends, are you going to come with me quietly or do I have to make a scene," Gwen shot back with a tone to her voice and look on her face that were all aimed at making Willow and Dawn believe that Gwen could care less about either of them.

"We aren't going anywhere with you," Dawn stated with a very firm and certain expression on her face as she leaned out from behind Willow just a bit before ducking back.

"Oh I think you will," Angel said with an emotionless tone of voice as he walked silently into the restaurant, his sword expertly concealed beneath the folds of his duster.

"Angel," Willow exclaimed with a look of total surprise and shock on her face while Dawn made a sound that resembled a mouse squeaking before the two took a fearful and nervous step back and away from Angel.

"Scared…good, you should be," Angel replied calmly with a deadly serious look in his gaze as he calmly took another step forward and slid the hilt of his sword out from beneath the folds of his duster just enough to make sure that both Willow and Dawn saw it.

"You two are coming with us," Gwen added with a frustrated and under whelmed frown on her face as she slid her dagger out of her coat pocket.

"Gwen, what do you think you're doing, how can we get them to trust us if…," Nina began with a panicked look on her face as she hurried forward and did her best to make Gwen put her dagger back into her coat while making sure that none of the other customers had seen the weapon.

"Why should we trust you," Willow asked with a curious and very anxious expression on her face as she brought the words to a very protective spell to her lips, only to lose them instantly at the voice of another.

"Because I do Red," Spike replied with a cool and collected smirk on his face as he appeared from out of the crowd on the opposite side of Angel, looking a bit ragged but otherwise just as Willow and Dawn remembered him.

"No…it can't be, you're dead, you died in the Hellmouth, Buffy told me," Willow stuttered out with a complete look of shock and surprise on her face while Dawn was still trying to get her mouth to work correctly and actually form sounds instead of just looking like a fish out of water.

"Right on all three accounts luv, but like the saying goes…reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," Spike answered with a very calm and almost whimsical smile on his face as he kept his hands in the front pockets of his duster and stood there completely still.

"No…you can't be here, you're dead…the First, you're the First," Dawn finally said with a terrified look on her face as it appeared as if tears were threatening to form in her eyes.

"Come on Bit, could that bloody git do this," Spike asked calmly with a somewhat hurt look on his face before he carefully and slowly reached out his right hand and with his fingers gently bounced a few of Dawn's locks, making her gasp audibly in shock. He half expected her to faint right then and there, but his little Bit was stronger than that. Before he knew it she had reared back and slapped him hard across the face. Recoiling from the first strike he fully expected another, being glad that Angel kept the others at bay, before to his surprise large elephant tears appeared in her eyes and she flung herself at him, enveloping in one of the tightest hugs that he had ever received, the front of his shirt quickly becoming completely soaked.

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"How do you feel," Connor asked softly and politely with a concerned look on his face and tone to his voice as he slowly shut the door to Morgan's room.

"How do you think I…I've been better," Morgan started to shout back with a very angry and frustrated scowl on her face before she saw the hurt and shock on Connor's face and did her best to calm down.

"How's your shoulder, still hurt," Connor asked softly as he nervous slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans and tried not to stare at Morgan. It wasn't because she was devoid of clothing but after his past experiences with women Connor had decided to be less assertive with members of the opposite sex, at least those that made his stomach get tied in knots when he was around them. As he took an awkward step towards her bed Connor wondered if Angel had ever felt this way around any of the many women that he had known in his lifetime.

"Yeah, it's like a dull pain though…thanks to the drugs, although I really can't move it much, hope the fabled enhanced slayer healing kicks in pretty soon because otherwise it might just be better to chop it off," Morgan finally replied after pulling a tissue out of the box and blowing her nose.

"My dad and the others are out picking up a few things, they said that we were supposed to stay here and wait for them," Connor said with a reluctant look Morgan's way before he walked over to the window and sullenly gazed out of it.

"Are you okay," Morgan asked with a slightly confused look on her face after remaining silent for a few seconds and watching Connor's nervous behavior.

"Yeah…I'm fine," Connor mumbled back with a sad pout on his face even though he barely moved a muscle.

"Really, that's funny you know, because you don't look fine, was it something I did," Morgan wondered, at first with a bit of anger and sarcasm in her voice, before she slipped out of bed, thankful that she had something on more than her robe, and crossed the room to stand off to the side of Connor. She was close enough so that she could see his face but no so close as to make him feel as if she were trying to box him in.

"You like him…don't you," Connor said with a sad and dejected tone of voice as he fought against himself to keep from looking at Morgan, who stood there perplexed by his question.

"Him who," Morgan asked with a confused look on her face as she took a step forward and sat down gingerly on the window seat.

"Spike," Connor mumbled back in reply before he turned and walked away from the window, finally stopping in front of a full-length mirror, half bathed in shadows. After being initially taken aback at his comment Morgan recovered quickly and answered.

"Of course, what woman in her right mind wouldn't be…Connor," Morgan answered quickly as a faint smile came to her lips before without saying a word Connor turned and walked over to the door. Before Morgan could say anything more Connor had left the room. It was twenty minutes later before Morgan heard a knock on her door. "Connor," Morgan asked with a somewhat worried tone to her voice as she slowly pulled the door open.

"Nope, he's out in the backyard somewhere, looked terrible to," Michelle replied with a surprised look on her face before her countenance grew sad at the memory of the look that Connor had on his face when he had walked past her in the library.

"Did he say anything…about me," Morgan asked, more than a bit nervous but yet at the same time feeling oddly as if she were the cause of Connor's current state of melancholy and it bugged her to see him feel that way.

"About you…no, can't say as he did, although it's getting kind of cold out there and he wasn't wearing a coat," Michelle answered with a sad and tired yawn as she leaned up against the doorframe a little bit.

"Maybe I should take him one," Morgan started to say with a concerned look on her face as she turned back into the room in an attempt to look for a coat.

"In your condition, sorry Morgan but you should get as much rest as possible, despite having the enhanced slayer healing you still have to give your body the time that it needs to heal, and going outside into the cold night air won't be helping any," Michelle countered with an almost motherly expression on her face as Morgan guessed that Michelle had used that same face before, probably on either younger siblings or children whom she babysat.

"But," Morgan began to argue with a slightly more concerned look on her face before she realized that Michelle was right and turned in for the night.

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"Where are we going," Dawn asked with a nervous look on her face as she and Willow had piled into a van shortly after exiting the restaurant. Spike got in along with them and slipped behind the wheel, allowing Groo to slip to the passenger side seat.

"Headquarters Bit, not exactly my usual fare but at the moment we don't really have much of a choice in the matter," Spike replied with a nervous look on his face as he roared out of the restaurants parking lot after Angel and the others.

"And then what, is Cordy or Wesley there…or Fred," Willow asked with a worried and impatient frown on her face as she hand to hang onto her seat tightly as Spike took the corners very sharply and drove like he was rushed for time.

"Sorry Red, it's only me, Peaches, and Illyria left…well guess you could add Faith and a few new slayers to that tally, and hopefully with your help we'll add Wesley to that mix," Spike said back with a nervous and anxious edge to his voice as he slowed down and waited for Angel to make the turn.

"But he's dead right, Wesley's dead," Dawn interjected with a confused pout on her face that Spike couldn't help but smirk at as he saw it in the rearview mirror.

"He is indeed, but once you cast the spell with the correct talisman's he will be alive once again and help us to forever close the portals to the hell dimensions that the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart wish to open," Groo answered before Spike could as he half turned in his seat and smiled back at Dawn and Willow just as the mansion came into view.

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"Mind if I sit down," Katy asked softly with a content smile on her face as she slowly walked up to Connor, who sat shivering on a stone bench beside a small pool.

"Yes," Connor mumbled back with a slightly annoyed scowl on his face as he kept his gaze riveted on a crack in the cement.

"Well sorry but I'm sitting down," Katy shot back with a frustrated frown on her face as she walked over and sat down beside Connor.

"I don't want to talk about it," Connor grumbled with an annoyed scowl on his face as he scooted an inch further away from Katy and stared down at a severed blade of grass.

"Yes you do, look Connor I might not be the smartest slayer ever but I've been around enough men to know when they're all hung up over a woman, so which one is it…Faith, Michelle," Katy countered with a half amused pout on her face as she was trying to hold her excitement in while not letting Connor get the wrong idea about her line of questioning.

"Stop it okay, just stop it," Connor snapped with a scared look on his face as he stood up quickly and started to walk away from the pool.

"It's Morgan isn't it Connor, but she doesn't even see you…right," Katy exclaimed loudly enough so that Connor could easily hear her but no one inside the mansion would. At her words Connor instantly stopped walking and half turned.

"Maybe," Connor mumbled softly with a defeated frown on his face before he shivered in the cold and turned back to face Katy.

"Then you're in luck, because I'm going to help you Connor, help you get your girl, Morgan Adams won't know what hit her when I'm through with you," Katy said back with a sly and slightly seductive smirk on her face as she patted the seat beside her and waited for a nervous and somewhat skittish Connor to sit down.

END OF CHAPTER 16


	17. Painful Memories, And Ghosts?

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 17-PAINFUL MEMORIES, AND GHOSTS?**

Faith's eyes flickered open as the shot rang out. She had been having one of the worst dreams of her entire life. She had been seeing through Wesley's eyes again, this time chasing after Gunn and his two friends while mumbling something about how that can't be his plan. She saw the concerned look on Cordelia's face before he had left the unfamiliar office and had only begun to get a grip on where she was when she rounded a corner and saw Gunn and his two friends being confronted by a police officer that didn't look like he believed anything that Gunn or either one of his friends was saying. She heard Wesley try to reason with the police officer before he suddenly and calmly turned around and squeezed the trigger, firing off one single shot. The effect of the bullet hitting Wesley in his memory was enough to snap Faith back to consciousness. Immediately upon waking up she hissed and whined in pain at the stabbing and shooting pain in her gut. She remembered the fight and being attacked by the demons, but couldn't remember anything past that until waking up here in a strange room. As if on cue one hand slipped down from her forehead and reassuringly and comfortingly took hold of the medallion, its cool metal calming her. Summoning up most of her strength she slowly pulled back the sheet and saw the wrap that encircled her midsection, complete with a couple of patches of red where she had been injured. Gritting her teeth through the pain Faith pulled the rest of the blanket away and thanked whoever had brought her home that they had left some clothing on her body. As it was she found herself covered only by a bra and a pair of panties. She somehow made it to the bathroom and flipped on the light. Tears sprang to her eyes as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Gone was the powerful and dominant rogue slayer. In its place was left a pale and thin copy, one that looked like she had been crying far too much and hadn't been eating well.

"Damn you Wes, what's happening to me," Faith grumbled through the pain and the tears as she fumbled to turn the cold water on.

"This is none of my doing Faith, you started all of this yourself when you put the medallion on and spilt your blood on it, you should have been more careful," A voice whispered softly from out of the darkness, sounding an awful lot like Wesley, causing Faith to freeze in place and momentarily stop crying.

"What…how the hell was I supposed to know what would happen if I put the damn thing on," Faith shouted back loudly at the thin air before the exertion of shouting pulled on her wound and she started to sink down to her knees but stopped when a ghostly image of Wesley appeared in the mirror.

"I see that the phrase look but don't touch has been completely lost on you," The ghostly image of Wesley said with a sly grin on its face, initially receiving an angry glare from Faith before she had to look away lest he see her own sly grin.

"So what now, why can I see you, are you a ghost," Faith demanded with a curious look on her face as she looked back up into the mirror.

"I don't know, I'm not sure why you can see me…but I don't much feel like a ghost," The ghostly image of Wesley answered with a concerned look on his face as he crossed his arms and began to nervously pace back and forth within the mirror.

"You're a big help," Faith grumbled with an unhappy and sarcastic frown on her face before she closed her eyes as a wave of nausea washed over her. When she opened her eyes and looked at the mirror again the ghostly image of Wesley was gone.

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"Nice digs," Dawn said with a look of awe on her face as Spike led her into the library, where Illyria stood beside the Axis of Pythia, seemingly guarding it from anything and anyone.

"Thank you," Illyria said without the slightest hint of emotion in her voice as she cocked her head to one side and stared oddly at Dawn.

"I think she was talking to me Illyria," Spike said back with a casual shrug of his shoulder before he slipped his duster off and flopped down into one of the chairs.

"My apologies," Illyria said with a slightly confused look on her face before she slowly walked over and took her seat, not noticing the look of surprise and subdued lust on Willow's face.

"Uh Angel…who is that," Willow asked under her breath as she followed Dawn into the room and glanced away from Illyria, who looked more ready for a night out on the town at one of the hotter clubs than to be standing guard.

"That is…Illyria, one of the early ones, a demon that existed before vampires, and Wolfram and Hart, once insanely powerful but now she's a little bit stronger than your average slayer, and she killed Fred," Angel started to answer with a calm and almost relaxed tone to his voice before he whispered the last part. It took a few moments before Willow fully realized what Angel had said and her eyes grew very wide in shock before slowly changing to more of a glare.

"Relax Red, there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it, right now we just have to live with it," Spike added with an unhappy pout on his face as he picked up a book and started to idly flip through it.

"Maybe, doesn't mean that I have to like it," Willow grumbled softly under her breath with an angry scowl on her face as she walked over to the Axis and stared at it.

"With the Axis we will be able to locate Wesley's soul, but we're still going to need someone with a working knowledge of the dark arts and the power to bring him back," Angel stated with a calm expression on his face as he crossed his arms and leaned back up against a row of books.

"However we still need something to anchor his spirit to this world, otherwise the spell is worthless," Illyria said with a calm tone to her voice as she looked up at Willow and seemed confused when Willow didn't immediately reply.

"So we don't have the anchor then," Willow asked with a nervous frown on her face as she skimmed the book that was open on the desk in front of her, mostly the passage that detailed the need for an anchor to keep the spirit of the deceased in this realm long enough to be fully brought back to life.

"We do now," Whistler announced with an energized grin on his face as he made his way into the library, helping a still queasy Faith, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, limp into the room and to the nearest chair.

"Whistler, what are you doing, what is she doing out of bed," Angel demanded with an angry scowl on his face as he rushed over to the chair and knelt down beside Faith.

"It's okay Angel, I'm okay…just a bit queasy is all," Faith mumbled back weakly with a half smirk on her face as she lightly patted Angel on the shoulder.

"Are you sure," Angel asked pointedly with an unimpressed look on his face while Spike was already on his feet at the sudden intrusion and Dawn was almost instinctively ducking behind Spike and peering out over his shoulder while on her tip toes.

"I said I'm fine damn it," Faith angrily shouted back as she slapped Angel's hand away before she placed both hands on the medallion that hung around her neck.

"What's with that bloody thing anyway," Spike asked with a confused and slightly wary look on his face before Whistler spoke up.

"That thing William, is the anchor with which you will be able to bring your dearly departed friend Wesley, well part of it anyway, the rest of it is in this beautiful lady right here, her connection through that medallion is what will facilitate his return to this realm," Whistler interjected with a half amused look on his face before he began to rummage around in his coat for something to drink, finally producing a small metal flask and taking a sip.

"So that's what the medallion is for," Angel said with an amazed, but inwardly suspicious, tone to his voice, while staring at the medallion around Faith's neck, as he stood up and slowly made his way over to the Axis.

"That…or it's a glorified knickknack," Katy said with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she walked back into the mansion with a sullen Connor trailing silently behind her.

"Sorry babe but that's what the medallion is for, when Faith's blood came into contact with the surface she became bonded to it and the last person's blood that it came into contact with, forming an unbreakable bond between them that not even death can sever," Whistler said back with a confident grin on his face as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"So that's why I've been seeing…reliving pieces of Wesley's past, and just now when he appeared in the bathroom mirror," Faith mumbled out with some awe and confusion in her voice as she looked up at the immortal demon from her chair.

"Guess so…it makes an odd sort of sense, wait…you said that you saw him earlier," Willow began to say with a deep in thought frown on her face, as she could feel the power emanating from the Axis, before the part about seeing Wesley caught her attention.

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"Where are they, it's been almost two hours," Buffy demanded with an impatient and worried look on her face as she checked her watch momentarily before continuing on her path of pacing back and forth in the lobby.

"Calm down Buffy, I just sent Kennedy over to the restaurant, if she doesn't find anything then you can get scared," Giles said with an optimistic smile on his face as Rhona crossed her arms and scowled heavily as she stood guard by the door while Vi looked up from her crossword puzzle.

"What if she does find something, like they've been kidnapped or…okay I'll shut up," Andrew said with an eager smile on his face at first before he quickly shut up when everyone in the room glared angrily at him.

"We're jumping to wild conclusions here guys, this is Willow we're talking about remember," Xander interjected with a hopeful look of unease on his face as he leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling as Kennedy nervously walked into the lobby.

"Well…did you find them, is Dawn alright, where are they," Buffy demanded with an over anxious edge to her voice as she rushed up to Kennedy and made sure that she got a straight answer.

"Sorry Buffy…they were gone, when I asked one of the waiters he said that he remembered seeing Willow and Dawn in there earlier but that they left with a bunch of people, the waiter had never seen any of them before, but the guy did say that the leader of these strangers had all of the waitresses swooning," Kennedy answered with a sad and confused look on her face as she made little to no effort to get by Buffy without answering.

"So the guy's a hottie, doesn't exactly get us anywhere," Rhona grumbled with an upset pout on her face as she shook her head and stared down at the floor.

"Well the waiter described the guy as tall, dark, brooding and…," Kennedy started to say with a look of disinterest on her face before a light bulb went on in Xander's head.

"Angel," Xander announced with a great amount of pride and gusto as he jumped up out of his chair and turned to Buffy.

"If Xander is correct then it could possibly be safe to assume that Angel has made the first move, now what we have to do is come up with a tactically sound," Giles started to say with a very concerned and serious look on his face before Buffy turned around impatiently and interrupted.

"No Giles, what we have to do now is find out where Angel took Dawn and Willow and get them back, I don't know what game Angel is playing but kidnapping my younger sister and best friend is definitely not a good idea," Buffy snapped with a very frustrated and terrified look in her eyes as she wheeled around on Giles and stormed up to him.

"He's not going to hurt either of them sugarplum, you see while Angel rightfully so believes that all of you turned your collective backs on him at the first possible opportunity he still has his soul and he still is on his mission to save the world, and from the explanation that Ms. Kennedy gave us it didn't sound like there was any struggle or arguing or shouting, so perhaps you should open yourself up to the possibility that your friend and little sister went with Angel on their own accord," Lorne interjected with a calm but deadly serious expression on his face and tone to his voice as he slowly leaned back up against the far wall while watching a small piece of lint sail down from the ticket counter to the floor.

"That's crazy, Dawn knows better than that…and Willow, what could she have been thinking, this just doesn't make any sense," Buffy groaned with a very worried expression on her face as she fished her hands through her pockets and jingled what little change she had left.

"Is it supposed to," Vi wondered with a timid look on her face as, despite the fact that she was a slayer and usually raced into a battle with reckless abandon, when it came to offering up help on problems such as this her old attitudes returned with a vengeance.

"Afraid not sugarplum, you see that's when you know that what's happening all around you is serious, because none of it makes any sense," Lorne added with a sly smirk on his face as he pushed away from the wall and slowly walked into the center of the lobby.

"You're a lot of help," Xander joked coldly with a very sarcastic scowl on his face as he shook his head and glared at Lorne, who restrained himself from sticking his tongue out in return.

"Well I try," Lorne shot back with a sly grin on his face before he walked past Buffy and the others and headed for the stairs.

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"Think this will work," Spike wondered aloud with a nervous edge to his voice as he leaned back up against one of the stone pillars in the backyard of David Nabbit's estate.

"It has to, Willow's strong but no matter what she says we can't trust her fully, once she helps us get Wesley back I'll have David bring her and Dawn back to Buffy and make sure that they don't say anything to her about what we're doing, then all we have to do is stop the world from ending…again," Angel

"Hurrah for us, hail the conquering hero's," Spike joked with a mock look of joy on his face as he stared up at the stars.

"Shut up Spike," Angel growled back with an annoyed and overworked scowl on his face as he glared over at his grandchild.

"Easy Peaches, I was just having a little fun, but on a more serious subject, what are we going to do once we get the old watcher back, after how hung up he was on Fred and then Illyria…and with her looking like," Spike calmly said back with a slight trace of a smile on his lips as he pushed away from the column and turned to Angel.

"A Barbie doll on steroids," Angel shot back with an anxious smirk on his face as he slipped his hands into his pockets and slowly began to pace away from the column that he had been standing next to.

"Er…something like that, but can we expect Wesley to be happy to be back, I mean Fred will still be dead and now with everything that's happened since we left L.A., not to mention now that we have to hope that you can convince Red and Dawn not to spill the beans," Spike countered with a slightly unsure look on his face as he half heartedly fished around in his duster for a cigarette, but came up empty-handed.

"I said I'll talk with Dawn and Willow and I will, they won't tell Buffy anything that I don't want them to, and Wes's a big boy, he'll be able to put his personal feelings aside and tackle the task at hand," Angel said with a look on his face that seemed to hint that he was hoping against hope and trying to make himself believe that everything he had said would come completely true.

"Let's hope you're right, because otherwise we don't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of coming out of this apocalypse alive…but I wonder…if we do, do we get a discount on the next one to come along," Spike added with a steadily growing sly smirk on his face before Angel rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Hey Angel…Nina wants to see you about something, she's up in your room," Katy interrupted with a tired smile on her face as she slipped out of the house and walked out towards Spike and Angel, who immediately turned around at the sound of his name.

"Did she say what it was," Angel asked with a nervous expression on his face as he pulled his hands out of his pockets.

"Not really, although she didn't really look like she was in the mood to go to sleep just yet, if I had to guess what she wanted to talk to you about then I'd have to say that she want to learn how to defend herself, so that she'll be able to help you," Katy replied with a somewhat timid smile on her face before Angel nodded his head in silent thanks and walked back into the house.

"You could use a little training yourself you know," Spike quipped with an eerily calm look on his face as he stared up into the night sky.

"Yeah I know…but that can wait till tomorrow sometime, whereas tonight I really needed to talk to you…cigarette," Katy slowly replied with a slightly scared look on her face as she stepped out of the shadows and held out a package of opened cigarettes.

"You shouldn't smoke you know…bad for your health," Spike firmly stated with an odd fatherly tone to his voice even though he reached out and pulled a cigarette from the pack and the lighter that she was holding along with the pack with her thumb.

"I know, I only have one before I go to bed…it helps me to relax, but that's not why I'm here, I'm here because I need to talk to you about Morgan," Katy shot back with a slight shrug of her shoulders before she shivered in the cold night air.

"Thought she was safe and sound in her room, dreaming of puppy dogs and teddy bears what with all of those drugs that the doctors gave her, something wrong with her pet," Spike asked with an unsure and slightly confused look on his face as he lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply.

"She is, Michelle made sure of that, but I wanted to talk to you because well…she likes you a lot and," Katy started to say with a nervous look on her face as she accepted the lighter back and lit up her own cigarette.

"You came out here to speak to me on her behalf right, trying to play the little runt with wings and a diaper, shooting his little arrows of love all over…well sorry luv but there's only one bird for me, a petite blonde slayer who's had to shoulder more than her fair share of shit for to long," Spike stated with an almost nostalgic smile on his face as he recalled more pleasant memories with Buffy.

"Not really, you see Connor…he, well he has it bad for her but she's barely noticed that he even exists," Katy said with a pensive pout on her face before she took another drag on her cigarette.

"I think I can see where this is headed pet, you need my help, well…count me in," Spike said through a grin before he took another drag on his cigarette and tried not to laugh as Katy grinned her thanks back as she began to form a plan in her mind of how to help Connor get his girl, now with Spike's help.

END OF CHAPTER 17


	18. Miss Me

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Morgan and Katy.**

**CHAPTER 18-MISS ME**

Morning brought little relief to those desperately trying to come up with the whereabouts of Wesley's spirit. Although promising to stay up the entire night Dawn had slipped off into a peaceful slumber shortly after midnight. Angel had offered to carry her up to bed but Spike had stepped in and done it himself. True to her word Illyria had remained awake throughout the night, working on the opposite side of the library from Willow, who had steadfastly refused to sit anywhere near the ancient one. Willow had intently studied each and every book that was put in front of her. Angel had returned from talking to Nina and only mumbled something to Spike in a language that Willow didn't understand before he had resumed helping research the spell that would bring Wesley back.

"How are we even supposed to know this spell when we see it," Katy asked with a half asleep look on her face as she slurred her words noticeably.

"I've done this type of thing before Katy, so if you see any spell that talks about inter-dimensional resurrections then you're probably on the right track," Willow replied with a frustrated and anxious look on her face as she turned next another page without finding anything that would be of any help to her.

"Sure Willow, whatever you say," Katy mumbled back with a very sleepy smile on her face before Willow had to hold back a grin as a few minutes later she saw Katy's eyelids droop until she to was sound asleep, her head resting softly on the books in front of her.

"Look Red, are we going to need anything special for this spell…because let's face it I'm better in the field than sitting here digging through all of these dusty old books," Spike asked with a bored stiff expression on his face as he closed the book that he was lightly skimming and turned to Willow.

"I can't be sure yet Spike, until I find the correct spell I won't know the list of ingredients and other items that we'll need," Willow replied with a small yawn as she shrugged her shoulders and gave Spike her best apologetic smile.

"In that case I think that it's best if we all turn in for the night, you to Illyria, we can start fresh tomorrow…later on this morning," Angel said with a tired look on his face before he glanced up at the clock on the wall and amended the last part. Willow reluctantly nodded her head and left the library without giving even half a glance Illyria's way. Spike shook his head at this but understood her motives before with a small wave of his hand he waved off the question that he could tell was beginning to form on Illyria's orange tinted lips.

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"Well the police over here are about as helpful as they were in Sunnydale," Xander quipped with a sarcastic and exhausted frown on his face as he plopped down into one of the chairs in the lobby before handing Vi the pencil that she had accidentally dropped.

"That doesn't sound good," Buffy said with a worried and anxious expression on her face as she nervously looked down at Xander.

"We got nothin," Kennedy grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she looked ready to explode from worrying about Willow.

"The authorities said that until Willow and Dawn have been gone for twenty four hours they cannot be considered missing, but a nice young lieutenant did say that he'd keep an eye out for them, but I don't put much hope in that panning out," Giles said with a very concerned scowl on his face as he walked past Buffy towards the stairs. Giles had taken Xander and Kennedy with him to the nearest police station the moment that they had finished breakfast the next morning.

"Do we know if Angel has any friends or contacts here in London, maybe the London branch of Wolfram and Hart would know something," Buffy offered up with a hopeful but grim look on her face as she stopped Giles but was then interrupted by Lorne, who looked none the better after sleeping in late. Xander had let him sleep on the floor in his, Andrew, and Giles' room out of pity combined with not wanting to let him out of their sight.

"Afraid that'd be the king of bad ideas cupcake, Wolfram and Hart wants Angel and everyone else that helped him take down the circle of the black thorn dead, if you went to them then you'd be delivering them into their hands," Lorne interjected with a very serious and almost angry scowl on his face as he quickly paced down the rest of the stairs and entered the lobby.

"What other choice do we have though, Angel's not about to just pick up the phone and give us a call and tell us where he is," Xander objected with a very sarcastic tone to his voice as he sat up in his chair and then laughed at the thought of Angel actually helping them do anything.

"But didn't Willow have her cell with her, I don't know why I didn't think of it before," Buffy started to say with a confused look on her face before the idea hit her and she quickly pulled her own cell phone from her pocket and started to dial Willow's number.

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The sound of the cell phone ringing had pulled Willow out of her slumber. She didn't know when she had fallen asleep or how long she had been out but hoped that it hadn't been to long. After Angel had told her the whole story she and Dawn had both agreed to do all that they could to help bring Wesley back and stop the senior partners. She had found several spells that she thought were possibilities before she had fallen asleep but now upon jerking away she noticed that her markers had all fallen out of their respective books.

"H…hello," Willow slurred out with a huge yawn before she slid the book off of her lap and back onto the desk in front of her.

"Oh thank God," Buffy mumbled softly under her breath with a very relieved expression on her face before she continued, "Where are you?"

"We…we're fine Buffy don't worry, I'll explain everything once we're through casting," Willow started to stutter quickly with a frantic edge to her voice before the phone was ripped out of her hands and flung violently against the far wall shattering into pieces. Willow cringed as the pieces fell to the floor.

"Do not do that again, when we're done with this then we'll drop you off at the hotel, until then you do not contact Buffy or any of the others in any way, understand," Angel stated with a very firm and unwavering tone of voice as Willow knew instantly that there was no arguing with him.

"Fine…but you realize that Buffy's going to," Willow started to protest with a nervous look on her face as she sat up in her chair and opened up the largest book on the table.

"Leave Buffy to me, if she thinks that she's running this show then she's going to have a rude awakening, I'm through playing by the rules, and a bunch of slayers are no longer any deterrent," Angel interjected with a deadly serious look on his face as for a moment Willow feared that Angelus had come back before Nina stepped off of the final stair and entered the room. Sensing her presence Angel seemed to relax a bit, before she lazily leaned up against Angel for support. Willow couldn't suppress a smirk at the sudden change on Angel's face as he had gone from dictating the terms of her working with him to suddenly being a glorified wall in less than a second. "Nina…time to wake up," Angel whispered softly to Nina as he slipped an arm around her and drew her close.

"Don't want to," Nina mumbled softly in her sleep as she turned her head slightly before burrowing her way into Angel's shoulder, soon she was softly snoring away.

"This is awkward," Angel mumbled with a confused smirk on his face before he made up his mind and scooped Nina up into his arms and carried her out of the room.

"Always trying to play the hero," Spike stated with a slight bit of mockery in his voice as he swaggered into the library, using a toothpick to get Willow could only guess what out of his teeth.

"Could say the same thing about you Spike, why didn't you tell us you were back, Buffy…," Willow started to ask softly with a determined to get to the bottom of the madness look on her face as she set the book that she had opened up earlier down onto the desk.

"Has gotten along fine without me Red, saw it for myself, Angel was there to…we saw her with that git, I mean how stupid can she be…that bloody bastard doesn't give a damn about her," Spike answered at first with a relaxed look in his eyes before he grew angry and spat out the end.

"The Immortal's not that bad, he seems nice…really," Willow countered with a defensive and slightly scared expression on her face as she turned in her chair to fully face Spike.

"Because you don't know him like Angel and I do, trust me Red, give him a chance and he'll take the thing that you value most in this life and then taunt you with that fact," Spike replied with a very vengeful sneer on his face as he stormed across the room and kicked a chair out of the first few rays of sunlight before sitting down in it.

"You and Angel, you're old friends of the Immortal," Willow asked with an interested expression on her face as she was always hungry for new information.

"Only in the sense that we want to cut him into tiny pieces and stick his head on a pike," A very serious Angel growled as he angrily stepped back into the room and pulled a book from the shelf that he had been reading the night before.

"Tense much," Katy said with a sarcastic smile on her face as she slowly walked into the room, looking ready for a workout rather than for more studying.

"You don't understand Willow, the Immortal is bad news, and if Buffy can't see it then Spike and I are going to have to take care of him," Angel said with a very serious and commanding edge to his voice as he then silently found a seat next to Spike.

"What do the two of you have against The Immortal, it's not like he tried to kill you or…," Willow started to ask with a fed up and frustrated scowl on her face as she turned and looked at the two vampires.

"Actually he did, strung us up like rabbits and let his executioner play with us for awhile while he had his way with Darla and Dru…bloody bastard, he did something to them, they weren't acting like themselves when we found them," Spike started to say with a very bitter and angry sneer on his face before he forced himself to calm down.

"When we tried to confront him the Immortal's goons wouldn't let us get anywhere near him, and when we came to Rome he got the better of us again, and didn't let us forget it," Angel finished with a very calm but bitter look on his face as he looked up from his seat and glanced over at Willow before returning to his book.

"I…I had no idea," Willow stammered out with an overwhelmed feeling in her stomach before the wheel's of her mind began to spin of exactly what to do when she saw Buffy again.

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"Okay, so is everyone ready, remember this is a very dangerous spell, now anything goes wrong…anything at all, kill me," Willow said loudly with a very serious look on her face as she slowly turned around in circles, making sure that everyone could hear her clearly. They had waited until nightfall to even hope to perform the spell. Katy had found the right passage in one of the books that she had been looking through and had been overjoyed when Willow agreed that it was the correct spell. Angel and Spike had spent the rest of the day rounding up the supplies, with Groo and Gwen getting the ones that they couldn't as some were in some very sun drenched locations.

"As ready as we're going to get," Michelle replied with a nervous but excited smile on her face as she slowly stood up after laying the chicken's feet at the base of the large blood circle on the stones. Earlier in the day Gwen had found a small square on one corner of London that would fit their needs. Angel and Spike had drawn a pentagram on the stone in blood and then set about arraying the various spell components around the circle. Faith sat back in her wheelchair near a tree with a change of clothes in her hands. The clothes were not for her but for Wesley, in case when they brought him back he wasn't wearing any.

"Then we should get started before anyone or anything shows up," Willow replied with a nervous smile on her face as she nodded her head and then walked to the center of the pentagram, carrying the Axis with her.

"Now remember, if anything comes out of that portal other than Wesley…kill it," Angel shouted out to the group with a very serious expression on his face as Nina loaded her crossbow, stuck another bolt in her teeth, and ducked behind a tree. Angel, Spike, Groo, and Gwen each took up defensive positions a few feet from the edge of the circle, spacing themselves an equal distance apart. Each wielded a simple sword with a dagger for backup. Katy and Morgan stood guard with Faith, each with crossbows of their own and Faith had concealed a large dagger underneath the stack of clothes that she had for Wesley. A sawn off shotgun also lay across her lap and as her nervousness began to grow she began to tap it anxiously with her fingernails.

"What if Wolfram and Hart tries to stop us," Michelle asked with a very scared look on her face as she limped back next to Connor, who sat on the top of a van and was serving as a lookout. Illyria was out of sight on the top of one of the nearby buildings, serving as a surprise ally if needed.

"If they stop us before we get Wesley back then it's all over," Spike answered with a very serious look on his face as he half turned back to Michelle before Dawn spoke up.

"Are you sure that you can do this Willow, you won't get lost in the power," Dawn interjected with a worried look on her face as she turned away from Spike and over to Willow.

"I'll be fine Dawnie, all I have to do is bring his soul back to this plane of existence by using the Axis here to locate it, then it's all up to Faith and that medallion to make him corporeal again," Willow said back with a nervous frown on her face as she started out looking in Dawn's direction before she turned and gazed over at Faith, who almost self consciously reached up and stroked the smooth surface of the medallion.

"It's time Willow…and thank you," Angel told everyone with a very commanding edge to his voice before it softened and he smiled at Willow.

"Don't mention it, think of this as me making up a small part of what we owe you guys for not being there when you really needed us," Willow replied softly with a somber smile on her face as she meant every word. She started the spell off slowly, concentrating more on getting the words right then keep tabs on where everyone else was positioned. The words soon began to tumble out of her mouth one right after the other as if she were no longer controlling them. Instead the spell seemed to take on a life of its own.

"Is this supposed to happen," Spike shouted above the suddenly strong breeze that had picked up out of the blue after Willow had begun to speak.

"How should I know," Angel angrily shouted back with a hand over his face to try to keep his vision clear.

"I think it's working…look," Connor called in from his spot as he pointed to the sky several feet above Willow as what looked like a ribbon of light appeared in the sky and began to wriggle around. Smiling at this Willow finished the last words of the spell and the ribbon of light spread apart into a portal.

"Now Faith," Angel screamed out over the near tempest as he turned away from the circle just slightly and hoped that he was screaming in Faith's general direction. Even though Faith barely heard him she figured that her time for action was at hand. Shutting her eyes tightly against the wind she closed both of her hands tightly around the medallion and began to concentrate more intently than she ever had before, ignoring the spattering of rain that was beginning to fall around her. Looking very scared Katy pulled out one of her crossbow bolts and scratched it across her hand, hissing loudly as a thick line of blood began to dribble down her hand. Acting quickly she fought against the wind and began to let all of her blood drop down through the small hole in Faith's hands that she had created with her index finger. The medallion needed fresh blood that did not belong to either of the forever-joined pair to work its final magic. Katy had nearly vomited when she had first heard what she would have to do but after a pep talk from Faith and a very clear threat from Angel she knew that she could not turn back. At first nothing happened, but as more and more of Katy's blood began to coat the medallion the reaction finally began. Soon a blinding white light began to emanate from Faith's hands, forcing everyone in the square to turn away lest they be rendered completely blind. The white light then shot what looked almost like a laser straight towards the center of the portal.

"I…can't see," Morgan shouted out in pain before a small bench was wrenched from its foundations and struck her in her already injured shoulder, knocking her to the ground and once more breaking the arm. Spike heard her scream of pain and took a step in her direction to go and help but stopped when something bright flashed out of the portal and slammed down onto the cold wet cement of the center of the square.

"Is it him," Gwen shouted out with an angry expression on her face as she peered through the now almost blinding rain at the two figures in the center of the circle.

"It's him…Angel it's Wesley, he's alive," Willow shouted out of the center of the circle with a very excited and overjoyed tone to her voice as she knelt down beside the naked former watcher and checked his pulse.

"That's…Willow look out," Angel started to shout back in congratulations before a large scorpion like creature slithered through the portal and landed over Wesley and Willow, causing Angel and Spike and the others to go staggering back out of the way of the demon's claws and poisoned tail.

"Bloody hell," Spike sneered with a furious look on his face as he tumbled back over a park bench before the winds died down and the portal collapsed back in upon itself. He had only started to get back up to his feet when Connor sounded the alarm and had just gotten to Angel's side when the vans of Wolfram and Hart sped into one corner of the square.

END OF CHAPTER 18


	19. Heading Home, A First Soft Talk

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 19-HEADING HOME, A FIRST SOFT TALK**

The giant scorpion like demon took the brunt of Wolfram and Hart's attention. Willow collapsed about two seconds after making sure that Angel knew that Wesley had indeed come back through the portal. Spike had started to go to her aid but had been forced to stop when the giant scorpion like demon turned its attention to him. Cursing at Angel Spike back away quickly, getting the giant demon to start after him, allowing Angel and Groo to rush in and get Willow and Wesley out of any immediate danger. They almost made it to the first van to pull up before the inevitable happened. As the van's side door slid open a giant minotaur demon popped out of the portal and snorted loudly before noticing the bright floodlights that Wolfram and Hart had brought along. The dying screams of the guards echoed in Angel's ears as he and Groo set Wesley and Willow's unconscious forms in the back of the van and slammed the door shut.

"Get them back to the mansion," Angel shouted loudly at David as he finished slamming the door shut.

"Yes sir," David announced with an exceedingly proud grin on his face before he pulled down his night vision goggles and tore off back towards his mansion.

"Was that wise Angel," Groo asked with a confused and apprehensive look on his face as he picked his sword back up.

"Don't know, but we've got bigger fish to fry, Gwen get everyone out of here, Spike, Groo, and I will hold off our new friends," Angel replied softly with a shrug at first before raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. Faith started to complain but was stopped when something else slid out of the portal and crashed to the ground below.

"This is getting ridiculous," Spike growled with an angry sneer on his face before the scorpion demons tail lashed out and slammed into him, sending him flying through the air and crashing through the wall of one of the nearby buildings.

"Spike," Morgan cried with a scared expression on her face as she started to take a step in his direction before Connor moved quicker and was dashing towards the large hole in the wall just as more of David's vans pulled up.

"Time to go," Katy said with a very determined look on her face a she grabbed the handles of Faith's wheelchair and spun her around before heading off towards the nearest van.

"But shouldn't we," Morgan began to ask with a worried look on her face as she took another step in Spike's direction before Michelle made the decision for her.

"Spike and Connor can take care of themselves, we can't, now come on," Michelle interjected with a very serious and determined look on her face before she was almost forced to drag Morgan into the van. The minotaur demon seemed to take a lot of glee in chasing after anything smaller than itself. When it turned its attention towards Angel and charged with its head down and deadly horns aimed his way Nina panicked and shot off one of her crossbow bolts, striking the demon in its left eye as it had picked its head up only slightly after seeing a flash of light. The demon roared out loudly, more in anger than in any real pain before the shock troops were sent in from Wolfram and Hart.

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Buffy angrily paced back and forth in front of the small television in her room. Giles and Xander sat on the bed, silently watching the news broadcast. The television networks had begun their late local news when the portal had opened up and Wesley had come through. Xander had initially flipped on the television to try and find something to take his mind off of the concern and fear that he felt because Willow and Dawn had yet to either be found or report in since Buffy had briefly gotten in contact with Willow. Buffy's heart had immediately begun to race at the sight of the portal and Xander had developed a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach at the exact same time. Only the new slayers seemed to be unaffected by the sight of the portal. Their reactions were mostly surprise and awe. Lorne and Andrew had a similar reaction, with at first sight of the portal Lorne had run screaming from the room, hiding in the back of the hotel's bar. Andrew had been selected to go and keep him company, mostly so that they wouldn't have to hear him ask question after question about the portal.

"What is Angel thinking, opening up a portal that size," Buffy grumbled under her breath with a very frustrated and anxious scowl on her face as she continued to pace back and forth.

I don't know Buffy, right now though our main concern should be in closing that portal, we've already seen what has come through it since turning the television on, I shudder to think what could possibly still come out," Giles replied with a concerned look on his face as he shook his head and leaned back up against the backboard.

"First he takes Willow and Dawn, and now he's opening portals, he's lost it I tell ya," Xander exclaimed with a deep sigh before he flopped backwards onto the bed and stared up at the old light that hung from the ceiling.

"Does this Angel know a lot of magic," Kennedy asked with an angry scowl on her face as she leaned up against the doorway and stared off into space. With each passing hour she was becoming more and more anxious about the fact that Willow was not at her side.

"Not particularly Kennedy, although he knows more than any of us except for Willow and myself, he's no dark mystic but he knows enough to be a threat," Giles replied softly with an anxious frown on his face as he watched Buffy pace back and forth.

"Yeah, and with Willow working possibly working with him who knows what he's trying to do," Xander grumbled with an unhappy and scared edge to his voice as he sat back up and looked over at Kennedy.

"So what are we standing around here for, can't you do like a locator spell or something," Kennedy demanded with a frustrated scowl on her face as she half turned out of the room but stayed where she was.

"I could, although something tells me that Angel will not stay in one place to long, and wherever he is hiding out he has probably protected it with cloaking spells that I would have to know the origin of before I could even hope to break them," Giles softly replied with a worried look on his face as he slipped his thumb and index finger underneath his glasses to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"So what then, we just sit here and do nothing, wait for this Angel guy to make a mistake," Rhona exclaimed with a heavily sarcastic and frustrated scowl on her face as she shook her head.

"Looks that way," Vi mumbled with a sad and defeated pout on her face as she looked up from her crossword puzzle and shrugged her shoulders.

"So then we're just going to let Wolfram and Hart take care of those demons and close the portal," Xander wondered aloud with a confused and slightly scared look on his face, as he turned first to Giles and then to Buffy.

"Right now it's the wisest option…unfortunately, with all of the Wolfram and Hart security and local authorities present our hands are tied, at least until everyone leaves the scene, then it might be possible for me to be able to determine exactly what spell was cast," Giles replied with a very serious and frustrated expression on his face as he stood up and walked over to Buffy, looking to try and calm her down but his hand only got within an inch of Buffy's shoulder before she pulled away and walked out of the room.

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It was midnight, of which day she knew not, when she finally woke up. She didn't remember falling asleep but when she awoke she found herself back in her room at David Nabbit's mansion. She licked her lips to keep them from drying up to much and cracking before she sat up and almost instantly noticed that there was only a little bit of pain. Taking a nervous breath she slowly pulled her shirt up until she could see the bandages. With a slight shrug of her shoulders she began to pull the bandages off one by one. When she was finished she found that the wound was almost done healing, except that she would definitely have a scar there to remember it by. Half smiling at the sudden upturn in her fortunes Faith slid out of her clothes and into the shower, intent on getting clean, having the weight that had seemed to be weighing on her ever since arriving in LA suddenly now gone. She tarried in the shower longer than she had originally intended, relishing the feeling of the cool water against her skin. When she finally got out she rummaged around in the drawers until she found something that she felt comfortable with wearing. As she pulled on her jeans she wondered how David had been able to buy clothes for seemingly all of them and managing to get the right size. Shrugging aside most of her thoughts Faith put on a comfortable looking jean jacket and picked up her shoes before she walked softly out of her room and down the hall before descending the stairs. She planned to slip out through the doors in the library and have a quick smoke, using a cigarette that she had stolen from Spike when he wasn't looking. She only got into the doorway of the library before she knew that she was not alone.

"Who's there," Faith demanded softly at first before she allowed the volume of her voice to rise high enough that whoever was in the room would know that she was not in the mood for playing any games.

"Hello Faith," A low and emotionless voice said from out of the darkness that sent a chill down Faith's spine.

"Wes," Faith gasped with a very surprised look on her face before a small lamp was turned on, illuminating a section of the room in an eerie glow. When he didn't respond immediately Faith turned in the direction of his voice and her breath caught in her throat. He sat leaning back in a chair in the corner, feet propped up on the nearest desk. He wore a dark pair of jeans, no shoes or socks, and a loose fitting button up black or dark blue shirt that he had left unbuttoned with no undershirt. Telling herself that she was not staring at his chest Faith oddly couldn't help but focus her attention there. It was after a few silent moments between the two that she noticed that he wore, what looked like the medallion that she had been wearing for days, around his neck, or at least half of it. Fumbling in the darkness Faith reached for the medallion and a slight shudder passed through her body when she felt that although the medallion was still around her neck there seemed to be only half of it still there.

"Couldn't sleep," Wesley asked softly with a very far away look on his face as he gazed out sadly into the darkness, as if he was searching its murky depths for someone.

"Something like that, but shouldn't you be," Faith replied softly with a nervous look on her face as she slowly took a step towards Wesley and felt a weird sort of energy flow through her veins.

"I was happy…complete, I had accomplished my mission, done what had been requested of me…but she told me that it wasn't my time, I still had work to do, feats of grandeur to accomplish," Wesley uttered, almost in a surprised and scared whisper, before a solitary tear slipped out and down his cheek.

"Who Wesley, who told you," Faith started to ask with a curious expression on her face as she walked over to stand directly in front of Wesley across the desk.

"Fred," Wesley quickly answered with a deadly serious stare in his eyes before he reached a hand up and wiped away another tear.

"But…she's dead, Illyria…," Faith started to question with a confused look on her face before a death glare from Wesley silenced her.

"Don't…just don't, don't say that name…please," Wesley finally said with a look of very forced calm on his face as he dug his fingernails into the top of the desk to keep himself from punching something.

"Fair enough, but I really think that you should be upstairs asleep in your room, the whole coming back to life…have a hunch that it'd take a lot out of you," Faith said with a shrug of her shoulders before she walked around the edge of the desk and pulled up a chair for herself and sat down beside Wesley.

"Apparently not as much as one would think, if anything I'm restless…I don't feel comfortable in my own skin," Wesley said back with an uncomfortable and nervous look in his eyes as he shook his head and stared off into the darkness.

"Welcome to the club Wes…but there is something that I have to ask you, otherwise I'm going to flip out one of these days," Faith continued with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach as she fidgeted with her hands to keep them busy.

"Wouldn't want that," Wesley quipped with a half sly grin on his face as he made it a point not to look at Faith despite the half confused and half angry look that she was giving him.

"Right…look, after I put this medallion on I…started to see you, hear you, all over the place, you were like a ghost…and somehow I lived your memories, you should really warn a girl before you let her in on a memory where you get shot…or your best friend tries to smother you in your hospital bed," Faith said softly with a genuinely scared look on her face as tremble in her voice as her hands started to shake before she timidly pulled them back and shoved them into her pockets to keep that fact from Wesley.

"I'm sorry for you having to go through that, it is a side effect of putting the medallion on and getting your blood on it, I became bound to it one day when Gunn brought it into my office and laid it on my desk, I didn't notice it until I got a nasty paper cut and went to move it out of the way…I should have known better," Wesley said with a bit of scorn and self mockery in his voice as he hung his head and his shoulders slumped a bit.

"How could you, as far as you knew it was just some stupid trinket that Gunn wanted to show you, for all you knew it was a piece of costume jewelry," Faith quickly stated with a concerned tone to her voice as she acted without really thinking and pulled her left hand out of her pocket and laid it on top of Wesley's right hand. He snatched his hand away instantly at her touch, at first setting his angry glare towards Faith before her scared eyes calmed his nerves and he reached out and stopped her from pulling her hand away and jamming it back into her pocket again.

"I'm sorry Faith, this is all just so surreal," Wesley said softly with a comforting edge to his voice as he looked Faith directly in the eye and gave her hand a squeeze. Unintentionally Faith couldn't help but allow a relieved and somewhat girly smile to spread across her face before she blushed and looked away.

"You guys won you know, you took out the entire circle of the Black Thorn, course only Angel, Spike, Connor, and Lorne made it but," Faith said back in such as way as to hopefully cheer Wesley up at first before she realized that his mind would revert to those that hadn't made it, all the while she made no move to pull or wrench her hand away from Wesley, as he still held her small left hand firmly in his much larger right hand.

"But we didn't stop Wolfram and Hart, the senior partners still got what they wanted, they destroyed Angel Investigations," Wesley said with a very forlorn and dejected look on his face as he slumped down a bit in his chair before he was interrupted.

"Not yet they haven't," Angel interjected with a very firm and determined look on his face as he and Spike stepped into the light. Faith started to dream up a sarcastic retort before she saw the state that the two were in. Both vampires looked like they had been through a meat grinder and had lost an awful amount of blood, most of which saturated their clothing.

"See you in the morning," Spike mumbled with a very somber and unhappy look on his face before he headed off towards the kitchen.

"Angel what," Wesley started to ask with a confused and concerned look on his face as he stood up and let go of Faith's hand before walking around the side of the desk. Angel stayed silent for several moments before he surprised both Faith and Wesley by shedding tears and pulling Wesley close into a crushing bear hug.

"Glad you're back Wesley, it just wasn't the same without you, and don't tell Nina about this…Spike and I just had a little talk about why he got his soul," Angel said with a very glad look in his eyes before he let go of Wesley and trudged up the stairs.

"You look like shit Wes, you need to get cleaned up, I think there were some spare towels in the kitchen," Faith joked with a sly grin on her face as she stood up and walked around Wesley, gently pulling his now bloodied shirt away from his body.

"Thanks," Wesley said back softly with a sly grin of his own before he let Faith direct him towards the kitchen, with her carefully pulling the bloodied shirt off of him first, her fingers shooting sparks against his skin with every gentle touch. As they went he got the odd sensation that Faith's gaze was not always on the darkened hallway ahead.

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"There you are Angel, do you know what time it…Angel, oh my God, what happened," Nina started to say with an anxious and worried look on her face before she saw how physically torn up Angel was and gasped.

"I reminisced with an old friend, he had a confession and needed to get if off his chest," Angel replied softly with a deadly serious look on his face as Nina continued to stare at his wounds for a moment before she rushed off into the bathroom before returning several moments later with a bowl of water and some towels.

"Okay, so why do you look like you got your ass kicked," Nina wondered with a concerned expression on her face as she dipped the edge of one of the towels into the water before she wiped a bit of the blood off of Angel's chest.

"Because I was a good teacher, right now we have to get ready for Wolfram and Hart, I think that it's a pretty good…bet, that they know our plan and are going to do whatever they can to stop us, including going after Buffy and the others in a plan to draw us out," Angel answered with a very serious look on his face as he punctuated several moments in his answer with winces in pain that coincided with Nina wiping away a little more of the blood.

"No rest for the wicked," Nina mumbled with an eerily sarcastic and fatalistic scowl on her face before she set about helping Angel tend to the rest of his injuries.

END OF CHAPTER 19


	20. Dark Rememberances

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

**Author's Note: This chapter gets a bit darker than my previous ones, but when you see who the big talk in the chapter is between and the circumstances of that talk it will be explained.**

**CHAPTER 20-DARK REMEMBERANCES**

"So he just told you…just like that," Nina asked with a confused look on her face as she handed Angel a towel.

"Pretty much, when Spike wants to tell you something…something really important, he doesn't hold back, he just hits you over the head with it and leaves it up to you to deal with the consequences," Angel replied with a nervous pout on his face as he stepped out of the shower and began to dry off.

"So what was the big secret that he told you," Nina asked with a long yawn as she pulled back the covers and pulled off her jeans.

"Nothing to important, old business from years ago," Angel replied with a nervous look on his face after spending several moments silent.

"Right Angel…if it was old business then why did you walk in here twenty minutes ago looking like you'd just called Godzilla a pansy," Nina countered with an unconvinced look on her face as she started to pull her shirt off but stopped and walked over to Angel, making him face her.

"It's a long story Nina, one that I don't think you want to hear about," Angel softly whispered back with an anxious shifting of his body weight as he looked away from her and out of the window.

"Why, because it's about you back when you were Angelus and killing people left and right," Nina shot back with a very stern and unwavering expression on her face as she leaned forward up against Angel and made it nearly impossible for him to not look down at her.

"No, it's nothing that I did, it's something that Spike did…or almost did, to a very good friend of mine, something that he never meant to do, we talked about it and we both agreed to put it behind us," Angel finally replied with a weary sigh before he pushed past Nina and walked around to his side of the bed.

"Have they said anything about those demons that we released," Gwen asked with a tired look on her face as she pushed her way into the kitchen.

"Nope," Morgan replied with a sad look on her face as she gingerly moved her injured arm away as Michelle sat down at the table beside her.

"But then again I highly doubt that the local authorities would actually ever openly admit to the public that there were giant demons on the loose, it'd cause a panic," Michelle added with a deep in thought look on her face as she sat down beside Morgan and turned back to Gwen.

"And we certainly wouldn't want that now would we," Katy joked with a sly grin on her face as she pulled back momentarily from rummaging around in the refrigerator, seemingly not noticing the angry glare that Michelle cast her way.

"Of course not," Connor grumbled with a very sour look on his face as he sulked into the room from another of the doors and headed towards the refrigerator. He lightly brushed Katy out of his way before he picked up a couple of pieces of cold pizza out of a pizza box and headed out into the backyard.

"Well good morning to you to Connor," Michelle said with an unhappy look on her face as she shook her head while Morgan watched him walk out of the kitchen with a very worried look on her face.

"No Morgan, you stay and eat, I'll make sure that he doesn't go to far," Katy said with a concerned look on her face as she motioned for Morgan to stay in her seat before she turned and walked out of the house and after Connor.

"What's up with her," Gwen asked with a confused look on her face as she opened up the nearest cupboard while she looked over at a quiet Morgan.

"I'm beginning to wonder," Morgan calmly replied back with a subtly jealous expression on her face as she slowly forced herself to stand up.

"Easy pet, she's just making sure that he doesn't go off and do something stupid, she's not your competition," Spike said with a tired look on his face as he edged into the kitchen and made sure to stay away from any and all sources of direct sunlight that filtered into the room. As soon as he finished speaking every female eye in the room turned his way, with a nervous shiver running through Morgan's body before the owner of the mansion finally broke the silence.

"Morning all," David announced with a very proud and happy grin on his face as he triumphantly strode into the kitchen and headed straight for a large cupboard near the refrigerator.

"Fuck off," Gwen grumbled with an annoyed scowl on her face as she slammed the door to one of the cupboards and flung another open.

"Did I say something wrong," David asked with a hurt and scared look on his face as he took a step back and away from Gwen.

"It's okay Mr. Nabbit, she's…not a morning person," Michelle interjected with a timid smile on her face as she laid a hand on David's arm and tried to calm him down after Gwen's outburst.

"Like you'd know," Gwen mumbled angrily under her breath before she found some graham crackers and left the kitchen.

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"Doing some sightseeing," Faith wondered with an oddly cheerful smile on her face as she slid around the side of a tree and kept her gaze locked on Wesley as he sat on one of the many benches that adorned the backyard of David's estate, staring off in the direction of the lake far off in the distance.

"Something like that," Wesley started to reply with a calm look on his face before his thoughts turned to weightier matters and he frowned and turned away.

"See anything interesting," Faith asked with a nervous half smile on her face as she slowly walked over to the bench and sat down beside Wesley, focusing her attention on a leaf blowing in the gentle breeze instead of looking at him.

"A young woman that has been hiding behind her fears and insecurities for far to long," Wesley answered with an eerily calm look on his face as Faith shivered a bit from the truthfulness of his words as they hit closer to home than she expected they would.

"Could say the same about you, except for the whole young woman part," Faith shot back, confidant at first before she scrunched up her face a bit and corrected herself.

"Point taken…did your mother really kick you out of the house when she…had a visitor," Wesley smirked out the first bit before his countenance grew serious and sympathetic. A flash of anger crossed Faith's face before her resolve broke and she answered.

"Yeah, she said that I'd just get in the way, she waited until I was," Faith started to answer with an unhappy look of nostalgia on her face as she remembered the many nights that her mother would scoot her out of the front door and tell her to not come back until her visitor left. This went on in all kinds of weather and times of day. If it were raining her mother would throw her a thick newspaper and tell her to improvise. If it were snowing then she'd be told to run as fast as she could to someone that would take her in. In those instances it usually turned out to be a neighbor three houses down, the very same neighbor that had on many occasions wanted to adopt Faith as her own rather than let her go back to her mother.

"Thirteen to tell you about the birds and the bees, although you had already found out everything that you needed to know several years earlier when your mother had been to drunk to remember that you weren't sleeping over at Josie's…the link went both ways Faith, you saw my worst memories and I saw yours," Wesley said as he stepped into her answer as he laid out the shortened version of how Faith learned about sex before he answered the next question that he saw was on the tip of her tongue.

"S…so then, you know…about," Faith stammered out softly, looking suddenly extremely like a scared three year old with eyes bigger than basketball's as tears didn't seem to be that far off.

"Damian, the man that raped you when you were twelve, of course your mother wasn't any help to you then, she was to drunk that night to realize…or care, that the man that she had brought home had stumbled into the wrong room," Wesley said with a slow nodding of his head as try as she might tears began to slide down Faith's cheeks, prompting Wesley to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeeze lightly.

"Your father wasn't much better, taking you to that whore house when you were nine, in some fucking misguided attempt to show you the depths to which some people would stoop to, while at the same time show you another example of how to treat people that were deemed…beneath you," Faith said as she spat out the last part with a look of disgust and revulsion on her face as she angrily shook her head, hoping that she could shake the last image out of her mind.

"It's amazing that we've lasted as long as we have," Wesley observed with a thickly sarcastic tone to his voice as he shook his head and bent over and picked up a leaf that had just been blown close enough.

"Yeah…does it ever hurt," Faith joked back at first with a short chuckle before she straightened up and lightly traced the edge of the cut on Wesley's neck gently with her left index finger. He stiffened a bit at her touch at first before he settled down and shook his head.

"Not anymore really, every great once in a while I'll get a psychic pain from it but thankfully those are few and far between," Wesley replied with an uncomfortable look on his face as Faith scooted a bit closer to make sure that she could look him in the eye.

"That's good, I'd hate to think that you were constantly in pain," Faith said back softly with a truly honest look on her face and in her eyes as Wesley turned back towards her. Neither noticed that they were now oddly close to one another.

"That's good to know," Wesley started to say out loud before it descended into a whisper as his face and Faith's face began to slow move towards each other. But just as they were about to venture past the point of no return Michelle shouted from the kitchen and the two snapped out of their odd stupor and shot apart, each hiding guilty looks from the other as they made their way back inside.

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"I don't care who you are, I'm not going to let you anywhere near Buffy," One of the newest slayers announced with a defiant expression on her face as she refused to step aside and let the man in front of her pass.

"I'm not going to hurt her, in fact she'll be happy to see me, I'm her boyfriend," The Immortal said with a kind but yet very serious edge to his voice as he took a step back and hoped that the young woman in front of him would step aside. When she didn't immediately do so he shook his head and turned towards Giles. "Rupert, would you be so kind as to explain to this beautiful young woman who I am and why she should let me by," He added with a pleading and innocent look on his face as he besieged Giles for help.

"Yes…of course, it's alright Maria, let him pass," Giles said with a sheepish look of embarrassment on his face as he walked up to them and laid a hand on Maria's shoulder. She paused for a moment, studying the look in his eyes, before reluctantly stepping aside and allowing him passage up the stairs and then walking towards the front doors of the hotel to get some air. What she didn't know was that there was a set of eyes glued to her figure as she made her way across the lobby. The Immortal smiled and made a mental note to remember her before he continued on his way to find Buffy.

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"So you were like Patrick Swayze in Ghost," Dawn asked with a very bewildered and interested look on her face as she slid into a spot on the couch beside Spike.

"Or like Bill Cosby in Ghost Dad," Willow added with an excited smirk on her face as she hopped onto the couch on the other side of Spike.

"What is this…the bloody Spanish Inquisition," Spike growled with a frustrated grimace on his face as his head whipped back and forth between the two women sitting beside him, nearly giving him whiplash as each seemingly changed the look on their face every time that he turned back to them.

"The what," Dawn asked with a completely confused and scrunched up look on her face as Spike did his best to hold back a snicker while Willow just smiled and shook her head.

"Never mind Dawn, okay Spike let's start from the beginning, how did you get to Wolfram and Hart from Sunnydale," Willow finally said with a nervous smile on her face as she perked up and looked eager for knowledge.

"The amulet that Angel brought to Sunnydale, when it released its energy it sucked me in, and out I popped a few weeks later in Peaches' office, with everyone staring at me, didn't think anything was wrong till I ran right through him…and his desk," Spike replied with an unhappy scowl on his face as he leaned back in the seat and looked back and forth between Willow and Dawn.

"But how, Buffy said that the amulet was buried deep within the Hellmouth, you were wearing it when you…when it happened," Dawn wondered with a confused look on her face as she tried her best to backtrack the events in her mind.

"That I was Bit, except an old enemy of Angel's somehow got the amulet and mailed it to Wolfram and Hart, and then awhile later he sent me a message in the mail, a flashy one, and suddenly I was corporeal again, just like that," Spike replied with a happier grin on his face as he looped an arm around Dawn's shoulders and pulled her into a hug, one that she did not try to get out of.

"Did you ever fight Dana, she said that…," Willow started to ask with a deep in thought look on her face before the smile fell instantly from Spike's face at the mention of the slayer that had cut off his hands.

"That crazy bitch cut my hands off, if I ever see her again…she's going to be the one that needs the hospital," Spike snapped back with an angry scowl on his face as he turned away from smiling Dawn's way to glare down at the witch sitting next to him.

"Oh my God…she cut off your…but that can't be right, Andrew said that the plan worked perfectly," Dawn said with a great amount of fear and hurt for Spike in her voice as she pulled away from the hug just enough to get her point across.

"His plan did…mine didn't, and next time you see Andrew I want you to give him a message from me, fool me once shame on me…fool me twice…shame on him, what happened in LA will never happen again, and I don't give a damn how many slayers there are," Angel interjected with a very stern and serious scowl on his face as he walked into the room with Nina in tow.

"Easy," Spike heard Nina whisper softly to Angel with a less than gentle squeezing of the back of his right arm before the two sat down on the couch that sat directly parallel to the one that Spike, Willow, and Dawn were on.

"I can only say I'm sorry so many times Angel, if we had known what was really going on," Willow began to say in her and the others' defense before Angel interrupted.

"But that's just it, you didn't care enough to find out, as long as you were safe and building your spiffy new council the rest of us be damned," Angel interjected sharply with an angry grimace on his face before he forcefully stood back up and left the room, leaving Nina at a momentary loss for words and Dawn and Willow shaking slightly in fear.

"Two hundred and fifty odd years and he still hasn't lost his touch…if you ladies will excuse me I think I need to have a talk with Captain Forehead," Spike said with a useless sigh before he stood up and followed off after Angel.

"He's…usually not like this…really, he just has a lot on his mind," Nina said with a nervous smile on her face as she seemed to be caught in between standing up and sitting down coupled with not knowing either Dawn or Willow.

"Of course he does," Dawn said softly, almost in a whisper, as she continued to stare off in the direction of where Angel and Spike had left the room.

"So then you're…what, Angel's werewolf girlfriend," Willow asked with a nervous and slightly guilty look on her face as she slid her legs off of the couch and turned to Nina.

"Correct…I uh…didn't try to kill you this week, did I," Nina admitted at first before realizing what she was saying and posing a question that she suddenly need the answer to.

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"I don't want to hear it Spike, I wasn't to hard on them, I'm through playing games with Buffy and it's about time that they know it," Angel exclaimed with a barely kept calm tone to his voice as he stalked back and forth in the barn.

"Well sorry Peaches, but you're going to hear it anyway…you're right, when next we and the Scooby gang meet the ending is going to swing in our behavior," Spike finally said with a somewhat impish and calm smirk on his face as he leaned back up against one of the walls and watched specks of dust float silently through the air.

"Spike, could you just agree with me for…what," Angel started to snap back with a been there done that tone of anger in his voice before he realized what Spike had said and stopped speaking abruptly.

"We're in total agreement here Angel, when next we and the Scooby gang cross paths we need to be ready for them, and any little tricks that they might pull, course I'm not quite sure that you started things off well in there by scaring the piss out of Red and Dawn," Spike said with a very calm expression on his face as he pulled a piece of straw out of a bale and began to slowly pull it apart.

"I didn't mean to yell at them, it was just that Nina and I had been watching news reports from LA, we were lucky Spike…really lucky, and there's a part of me that is starting to believe that…,"Angel said with a depressed and anxious tone to his voice as he slowly began to walk back and forth in the barn, deftly avoiding the beams of light.

"That if Buffy and the others had actually trusted us and Rupert hadn't kept putting you on hold that maybe a good portion of the city of angels wouldn't look like shit," Spike replied with a curious frown on his face as he tossed the strips of straw away.

"Yeah," Angel mumbled back softly with a very brooding scowl on his face as he reached one end of the barn and turned around.

END OF CHAPTER 20


	21. Midnight Rondevous

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.**

Wesfan1234-Thanks for the nice review, Angel has something planned and he's not in the mood to be playing games, hopefully this chapter will be a bit funnier than the last one…and who knows, maybe even a kiss(or more) for my favorite pair of mismatched rogues.

**CHAPTER 21-MIDNIGHT RONDEVOUS**

"Tell me again why you and I are sitting out here, freezing our asses off, watching Angel's ex and all of her little friends while the rest are nice and warm inside," Gwen grumbled with an irritated scowl on her face as she pulled her thin coat more tightly around her.

"We are doing a most necessary and valued aid to our friend Angel, we are collecting information on our adversaries, this knowledge will be vital if we are to defeat them in combat," Groo replied with an excited and warm smile on his face as he picked up a pair of binoculars and trained them on the small park where Buffy had gathered her now slightly smaller flock.

"We don't need to know their plan to kick their sorry little asses Groo, Angel just doesn't want to be taken by surprise again, and after what that little weasel Andrew pulled who can blame him," Gwen snapped back with an angry scowl on her face before she had to stop to direct some blowing hair away from her face as the wind had picked up since Buffy and the others had entered the park.

"Hmm…I do not see such an animal in the park, perhaps it is being hidden under the cloak of," Groo started to wonder out loud with a naive smile on his face as he stopped looking through the binoculars and turned to Gwen. Rather than let loose a tirade of angry words at him Gwen concluded to just slapping him upside the head and scowling at him, letting him know that he had said something wrong, before she returned to watching Buffy and the others.

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For much of the rest of the day Angel and Spike spent that time locked away in the map room, pouring over one possible scenario after another. Unlike many times before both would offer up valid possible plans and they managed to discuss the merits and faults of the different plans without it degrading into a royal rumble. Meanwhile Willow had dived into the multitude of magical texts that David had collected over the years and along with Michelle's help she was actually beginning to make some progress. Wesley had tried to help the two but had quickly become tired and had retired to his room to get some sleep, with Faith appointing herself his guardian and trying her best to stay awake in a chair near the door inside his room. That plan lasted for only a few moments after he fell asleep as soon the two were unintentionally sharing each and every dream via their connection with the medallion. Both however would awaken hours later with a need to stretch their legs and have a drink.

"There you are, you know if you want to get Morgan than you're actually going to have to spend time with her," Katy grumbled with a slightly annoyed look on her face as she walked over a small hill to find Connor kneeling down beside the pond in the backyard of David's estate.

"Go away," Connor grumbled with an annoyed and impatient scowl on his face as he slowly continued to work with something in the weeds by the pond.

"Sorry comrade, but I can't do that, if you want Morgan to notice you instead of Spike then you can't spend your entire day out here by yourself," Katy replied with an unfazed expression on her face as she continued to slowly walk towards Connor but kept looking back over her shoulder at the top of the mansion that was barely visible above the top of the hill.

"I'm not good…at talking, I always mess things up," Connor said softly with a defeated pout on his face as he finally stood up and Katy saw that he had tied several of the dead plants together into a small stick figure.

"Doesn't look like you messed that up," Katy said with a proud smile on her face as she nodded her head down towards the figure.

"This…it's just a hobby, something to calm me down," Connor said with a calm but sad frown on his face as he handed the small figure over to Katy and began to walk back towards the mansion.

"Look…I wasn't making fun of it, actually I think it's kind of cool," Katy called out to Connor's back before she had to hurry to catch up to him. When she caught up to him he slowed his pace for a bit before he turned abruptly when he caught sight of Morgan staring down at him and Katy out of her second story window.

"Would you stop staring at them already and come downstairs and help us find the spells," Michelle said with a rather stern scowl on her face as she stood in the doorway of Morgan's room and stared at her new friends back.

"I'm not staring…I just wish I knew what they were talking about," Morgan snapped back angrily at first before she calmed down some and whispered the rest.

"Maybe you should ask them," Michelle offered with a sly smirk on her face as she knew what the two were really doing as she had overheard a conversation between Spike and Angel earlier in the night where Spike had told Angel about the whole situation.

"Maybe I will," Morgan said with a hint of jealousy in her voice before she pulled a coat on with her one good arm and stormed out of the room.

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"But surely there must have been something good that happened to you, it can't all have been bad," Willow said with a scared and nervous look on her face as she and Dawn finally cornered Spike and Angel in one of the pantry's.

"Well there was that onetime that ole Peaches here took on the machine, course all it got him was being turned into a puppet," Spike joked out under his breath with a sly grin on his face as he glanced over at Angel, who looked about ready to strangle him before Dawn spoke up.

"A what," Dawn interjected with a very surprised look on her face as she stopped watching Wesley and Faith putting their coats on to turn back to Angel and Spike.

"A puppet, a wee little puppet man, it was hilarious," Spike quickly answered with an exuberant smile on his face as he patted Angel on the back, much to Angel's chagrin.

"It really was…he was made of felt and his nose came off, I think I might have a picture somewhere," Nina added with a sly grin on her face as she could tell that Angel was getting more and more upset by the second.

"I bet that you were so cute," Willow said with an excited and eager smile on her face before she started to make cooing sounds and pinched Angel's cheeks.

"I was not…I was the baddest puppet that ever walked…under its own power, those demons didn't stand a chance," Angel loudly interjected with an embarrassed look on his face as he took a step back from Nina and Willow and Dawn and shut the door behind Wesley and Faith.

"Course they were all puppets to, little bitty ones, Angel wanted to throw the bloody helicopters and black ops team at them," Spike said with an almost devious grin on his face as he took a step back and leaned up against the nearest doorway.

"But luckily Wesley convinced me not to and everything worked out fine in the end, now can we drop this," Angel snapped with a frustrated scowl on his face as he glared at everyone around him before he threw up his hands and stormed out of the room and then up the stairs.

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He casually lifted his gaze skyward, staring calmly at the dark and cold storm clouds that were beginning to form overhead. She led him across the street and into the pub without saying a word. She had somehow managed to convince Angel to let Wesley out of the mansion. As he surveyed the inside of the pub he was glad that he had let Faith drag him here. She had said that she loved this particular pub, mostly because she had saved the bartender from a pack of vampires and in return he didn't charge her for her drinks. That, the lack of to much lighting, and there never were to many patrons in the place and it had quickly become Faith's favorite place to drink and be alone.

"Love the décor Faith, remind me to bring a torch next time," Wesley joked with a sly grin on his face as he followed her over to a dark booth in the far corner of the building.

"Don't be so quick to knock this place Wes, it grows on you," Faith quipped with a slightly hurt look on her face before she shrugged her shoulders and slid into the booth next to Wesley.

"I'll bet…like mold," Wesley shot back under his breath with a devilish grin on his face, as he was beginning to feel better, before the bartender walked over and placed an overly large pitcher of beer on their table and set two large mugs down in front of them on the table. He was gone before Wesley could say a word of thanks.

"I usually only get through half of this…except after Robin and I…then I polished off three of them…course my brain nearly exploded from the hangover but my troubles definitely went away," Faith started to explain eagerly with an excited glint in her eyes before they grew cold and sad and she glanced away.

"But only for a short time, that's the problem with alcohol, no matter how much you drink to take your problems away, you will always have a need for more," Wesley said dryly with a sad frown on his face as he nodded his head when Faith looked at him and silently asked if he wanted her to fill his glass.

"That's the sober you talking, the drunk you will hopefully be a lot more enjoyable," Faith joked with a sly grin on her face before she filled her own glass and lifted the mug up to her lips.

"I shudder to think what the drunk you is like Faith, a prim and proper schoolgirl perhaps," Wesley started to say with a worried look on his face before the edges of his mouth curled up into a smile and Faith nearly inhaled the foam from her beer through her nose as she tried to laugh, drink, and come up with a funny anecdote all at the exact same time.

"Bet you'd like that…course it could be fun, a bit of role-playing to go with dinner, kind of always wanted to be a naughty schoolgirl…with the plaid skirt hiked up to…and nothing on underneath my…," Faith countered at first with a nervous shrug of her shoulders as she sat back in the booth before she got on a roll and only stopped when she caught the look in Wesley's eyes and decided that she didn't want to go there just yet.

"Yes well…let's keep that discussion until later shall we," Wesley finally said after several silent moments between the two.

"No argument here," Faith said with a nervous and slightly embarrassed smile on her face before she continued, "You ready for what's to come?"

"Whether I am or not isn't really important Faith, either way I have to take part in this… the good fight yeah," Wesley replied with a nervous and somber look on his face before he drained his mug and poured himself another.

"I guess…but there was something that I wanted to ask you about from earlier, when I got your memories through the amulet there were a few things that I wouldn't have expected in a million years from you," Faith said with a slight shrug of her shoulders before she shook her head and turned to Wesley.

"Such as," Wesley asked with a relaxed expression on his face before he lifted his mug up and took a long sip. For the next four hours the two talked about everything under the sun from their favorite color to when they lost their virginity. In the back of her mind Faith found it odd to be talking so openly to Wesley in such a way but she blamed her willingness on the alcohol that she was drinking and didn't hold back. Wesley on the other hand relished the simple fact of being alive and talking to someone, pushing aside thoughts and fears of what he would do when all of this was over out of his mind for the time being. The rain that had begun as a simple light sprinkling a few minutes after they had entered the pub had become a steady rain by the time that they left, except they left through the back alley instead of onto the street as Wesley had discovered that something that he had eaten earlier in the day all of a sudden no longer agreed with him.

"You okay," Faith asked, the concern evident in her voice, as she squatted down beside Wesley and laid a hand on his arm as he tried to wipe the rest of the vomit away from his mouth.

"I think so," Wesley answered softly with a slightly sickly expression on his face before using the nearby wall to stand fully back upright.

"Good because if we stay out here much longer we're going to be soaked clear through to the…bone," Faith started to say with a sigh of relief before they both heard a low growl that came from one end of the alley. They stood in a cold silence, hoping that the sound that they had just heard was only a trick of the wind. Their hopes were dashed when a large demon materialized out of the darkness, towering down over them. Faith instantly grabbed a loose iron pipe and rushed forward to attack while Wesley checked the other end of the alley to make sure that they were not being boxed in. As Faith landed her first blow Wesley switched tactics and tried the door to the pub, only to find it locked from the inside.

"I think we're in trouble here," Wesley shouted out with a very serious expression on his face before the demon that Faith had hit several times opened its second set of eyes and grabbed the iron bar out of her hands.

"Hey…give that…," Faith started to growl with an angry scowl on her face before the demon smacked her first across the face with the iron bar and then jammed it into her side. Bile rose in her throat as she felt and heard her ribs strain and then crack.

"Faith," Wesley shouted loudly in an almost drunken panic as he grabbed a broken bottle of wine and hurried to Faith's defense. He got to the demon just as Faith doubled over from the pain and spat out some blood. He swung the broken bottle towards the demons throat but it easily blocked the attack and then grabbed his arm and shoved him away and down, straight into a pair of full metal garbage cans. The grunt of pain from Wesley hitting the garbage cans snapped Faith momentarily out of her pained state and she had just lifted her head up a bit when the demon grabbed her by the throat and the ankle, picked her up, and threw her the entire length of the alley, with Faith finally coming to a landing in a large pile of wooden packing crates and garbage bags. Wesley only saw part of her flight before the sickening sound of a body going through wooden crates met his ears. Feeling both outraged and emboldened Wesley flung himself out of the smashed up garbage cans and back at the demon, only to be met with a fist to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before he could stop to regain him breath the demon placed its forearm across his chest and ran him straight into the nearby brick wall. The demon grinned as a flash of extreme pain crossed Wesley's face. Pinned to the wall Wesley was almost completely defenseless when three more demons walked out of the shadows, the low amount of light reflecting off of their almost steel like talons. Wesley tasted blood as one of the new demons slashed at first his midsection and then both shoulders, shredding his coat and shirt and leaving wounds behind that would harden into scars that would never disappear.

"We…," Faith grumbled with a queasy expression on her face as she slowly climbed out of the rubble of the packing crates while trying to keep her vision was showing her double of everything. She hadn't noticed either demon and was only barely able to avoid having her throat slashed when one of the two demons that hadn't attacked Wesley slashed at her, knifing through her shirt and leaving three long lines of blood that ran from her shoulder down to the small of her back. Falling forward from the first attack the next one came, as Faith felt the demon's claws scratch through her arm and rip away what little was left of her sleeve. Fighting through the pain Faith was able to dodge the next attack and was somehow able to get in between the two demons that were attacking her and ducked out of the way of the next attack. The second demon barely saw Faith duck down before the others demons claws raked across its throat, killing it.

"Nnh…ah," Wesley gasped out as the air was being forced from his body before his barely flailing hands found what he was looking for and pulled the gun out from the waistband of his jeans. Using the rest of his small amount of surprise Wesley used the bigger demons arm to prop his own up as he leveled the sights of the gun straight into that demons eye. Before the demon could pull away Wesley fired. The bullet ripped through the demons eye, skull, and bone before blowing out the back of its skull. The smaller demon was so surprised by the sudden event that Wesley was able to get off another shot at it, just as he was starting to slide down the wall. The bullet sprayed the wall behind the demon with its brains as it flopped to the ground just as the rain turned into a torrent. Faith finally caught her breath and was just able to block the attack from the remaining demon when Wesley clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth, catching the demons attention. The last thing that the demon saw was a flash of bright light and smoke and then everything went black.

"Nnh…Wes," Faith moaned with a pained look of panic on her face as she slowly crawled along the ground over to where he lay in a steadily growing puddle of water, with both covered in blood.

"Faith," Wesley mumbled back with a slightly shell-shocked tone to his voice before Faith gritted her teeth and ripped away what was left of his coat and shirt and gently laid her hands on his chest, hoping to keep him from trying to get up. When she saw the blood dripping out of the wounds on his shoulders and chest Faith began to frantically rip away what was left of her own shirt and tried to cover every wound.

"Easy Wes…I won't let you die," Faith started to say with a very determined look on her face as she leaned across Wesley to tie a strip of her shirt around the wound on his right shoulder, never noticing that she was practically lying in his lap in what some would say a compromising position. It wasn't until Wesley turned back from looking at his wounded shoulder that both noticed this, with their faces barely centimeters apart and blood mixed with rainwater dribbling off the ends of their noses.

"Faith…I," Wesley started to whisper softly before Faith took a gamble and leaned in and pressed her lips against his. At first he didn't respond, but soon Faith felt his left hand reach around and pull her deeper into the kiss. Abandoning the attempt to wrap his injured right shoulder Faith pulled her hands back and slid her left hand around his back and with her right hand she laid it around the back of Wesley's neck, keeping the kiss where it was. When the two finally came up for air the look in each other's eyes gave each the only explanation needed. Soon the logical need for one's own survival was replaced with a deep need for the other. The rest of the night the clacks of thunder would overshadow her screams and she would leave scars on his back that would never fully heal.

END OF CHAPTER 21


	22. Hospital Discount Cards

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 22-HOSPITAL DISCOUNT CARDS**

The first rays of the sun caught him straight away in the eye. He jerked awake at the burning sensation and hoped that the rest of the curtains were shut lest Nina wake up and find herself in bed with a pile of ashes. Rolling off of the bed and to the floor Angel darted his gaze around, looking for whichever curtain hadn't been closed fully enough. When he finally located it he crawled around the foot of the bed and fully closed them, gritting his teeth against the smell and pain of burning flesh. Cursing softly under his breath Angel slipped into the bathroom and washed the area off quickly. It was several minutes before the wound was completely healed, enough time for Nina to notice that she was alone in bed.

"Angel," Nina whispered softly with a still half asleep pout on her face and a little bit of drool hanging out the edge of her mouth as she lifted her head up just a bit.

"Over here," Angel said softly with a slightly nervous look on his face as he walked out of the bathroom just in time to see Nina roll over onto her back and squint in his direction.

"What are you," Nina began to ask softly with a tired and confused look on her face before she was cut off by a large yawn.

"Had to close the blinds, got a rude awakening," Angel whispered back with a soft snicker on his face as he knelt down beside the bed and gently reached up and trailed his index finger from her collarbone down towards her navel. She snickered as his finger began its quest, thankful that she had decided to go au natural that night.

"Did it hurt," Nina asked with a worried look on her face as she rolled over onto her side and reached out and carefully rubbed the red skin under Angel's right eye with her thumb.

"I've had worse," Angel joked with a cheesy grin on his face as he took Nina's hand in one of his own and kissed the back of it.

"I'm sure," Nina shot back with a sarcastic pout on her face before Angel allowed her to pull him back up onto the bed, wasting away a couple more hours before the rest of the house woke up.

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David yawned widely as he wrapped his bathrobe around himself and tied it closed. He had just woken up from one of the best dreams of his life. His silk pajamas had kept him cool, as someone had turned the thermostat up a little to high. He did his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he slowly and carefully made his way down the long staircase to the ground floor. He yawned again as he entered the living room before a welcome sight caught his attention. Spike sat on the couch with his feet resting up on the coffee table. Dawn lay on the couch beside him, with her head on a pillow on his lap and from the looks of Spike's duster as a blanket. As he approached Dawn looked pretty content so he decided to not wake them. He failed to notice one of Spike's eyes opening to a small slit as he left the room. He walked into the kitchen to find a stone-faced Connor sitting at the table reading the morning paper.

"Good morning Connor," David said with a warm smile on his face as he walked past the table on his way to the refrigerator, he got no response.

"He's been like that all morning," Katy whispered softly to David as she walked into the kitchen and joined him at the refrigerator.

"I have not," Connor finally grumbled with an unhappy and frustrated scowl on his face as he didn't look up from the table.

"He speaks," Katy announced with a proud smile on her face as she mock celebrated by throwing her hands up in the air in a victorious pose.

"Whatever," Connor grumbled back with an unhappy scowl on his face before he stood up and walked out of the room, right as Morgan walked in. Neither one looked at the other before Morgan sat down in the seat that Connor had vacated and lazily traced something on the table with her finger.

"Something bothering you Morgan," Katy asked softly in a very nice voice as she pulled a jug of milk out of the fridge and got two glasses out of the cupboard before pulling out a chair and sitting down beside Morgan.

"Maybe," Morgan said back with a less than thrilled look on her face as Katy poured them both a glass of milk.

"Wanna talk about it," David asked with an eager smile on his face as he shut the refrigerator door and got a glass for himself before sitting down on the opposite side of the table to Morgan and pouring himself a glass of milk.

"What is this…an intervention," Morgan asked with a confused and subtly angry scowl on her face as she reluctantly took her glass and stared at it oddly for a few seconds before taking a sip of milk.

"Yeah…a milk intervention," David replied with a wide grin on his face as he leaned back in his chair and then took a big drink of milk.

"Sounds like fun, deal me in," Willow said with a softly laugh as she walked into the room and headed over towards the cupboard to get herself a glass.

"Stay out of this," Morgan growled with an angry scowl on her face before she set her glass down on the table and stormed out of the room.

"Was it something I said," Willow mumbled with a confused and surprised look on her face before the telephone rang.

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"What were they thinking, they could have been caught," Angel exclaimed with an angry scowl on his face as he walked down the halls of the hospital towards the elevator.

"I think it's safe to say that they had other things on their minds last night Angel, besides as drunken indiscretions go I think they both had a nice night," Spike countered with a dirty smirk on his face as he winked at a few of the nurses as they walked by.

"Apart from the whole nearly getting killed part," Dawn said with a serious look on her face as she rolled her eyes and scowled at Spike's actions.

"Well yeah…there was that," Spike said back with a softer tone in his voice before he threw an arm around Dawn and pulled her into a one-arm hug as they all continued to walk down the hallway.

"You see Spike, forgetfulness, the first sign of old age," Dawn quipped with a sly grin on her face as she slid her arm around Spike and tried to hide her grin.

"Hey now, I am not old, I'm not even two hundred, you want to talk about old ask Peaches over there…he's practically ancient," Spike said back with a short chuckle as the group rounded a corner. Angel started to reply before he heard a chorus of laughter behind him.

"How old are you anyway," Katy asked with an interested smile on her face as she hurried to catch up to Angel and walk beside him.

"To old," Angel glumly replied before he picked up his pace and left Katy and the others in his dust until they all got to the nurses station just as Angel received the directions to Wesley's hospital room.

"At least they registered under a fake name," Spike noticed with an approving tone to his voice as he and Angel walked into the room and saw Wesley asleep on the bed, hooked up to a few machines, and Faith curled up next to him on a chair, looking very tiny. It was then that Angel and Spike were overcome with more than one mixed scent. Nina however took a bit longer to determine exactly what a couple of the scents meant. Immediately she turned to Angel for confirmation and scrunched up her face in slight surprise and confusion before Angel whispered something softly into her ear.

"He doesn't look so good," Willow said with a worried, and almost tearful, look in her eyes as she slowly made her way around the edge of the bed and leaned in close to Wesley's chest, inspecting the bandages.

"Doesn't smell to good either," Spike added with a grim scowl on his face as he and Angel shared a nervous glance before Faith shifted in her seat a bit.

"Well she's not exactly a shining beacon of health either, look," Dawn interjected with a scared and serious look on her face as she knelt down beside Faith and noticed the bandages wrapped tightly around her chest and back under her loose fitting shirt.

"Leave it to Faith to run into one severely pissed off sabatin demon," Angel started to say with a concerned scowl on his face before he was interrupted.

"Three…three sabatin demons, not one," Faith mumbled softly as her lips barely moved before she opened her eyes into slits and glanced over at Angel.

"Three…well you two won the bloody lottery, didn't you…," Spike said softly with an only lightly sarcastic tone to his voice though Angel could hear the seriousness behind the sarcasm. Sabatin demons were not to be taken lightly, more often than not they were to be avoided if at all possible, even by vampires.

"There…was a dalab…demon…as well…," Wesley whispered out softly through gritted teeth as his eyes remained closed and it seemed that every word was uttered at a great expense to him.

"Hey…the doctors said that you're supposed to take it easy," Faith started to say with a sleepy expression on her face before he eyes popped open and she instantly turned to Wesley.

"What's a dalab demon," Nina wondered with an anxious expression on her face as Faith helped Wesley take a drink from his hospital thermos.

"Nasty buggers, at least six feet tall and take the phrase built like a tank seriously, their skin is bulletproof," Spike answered with a grim and serious frown on his face as he walked back and shut the door, but not before checking both ways down the hallway.

"But their eyes aren't," Faith countered with a proud smirk on her face as she set the water hospital thermos back on the tray.

"What's that supposed to…oh…oh yuck," Dawn started to ask with a confused look on her face before she realized what Faith had meant and a disgusted look appeared on her face.

"So what's the prognosis," Katy asked with a slightly scared look on her face as she walked up to Wesley and tried to appear positive.

"Cracked ribs, a million and one bruises, matching scars on both shoulders…and one hell of a nightcap," Angel replied with a calm and collected tone to his voice before he couldn't help but smile at the look that Faith shot him while Spike barely glanced up from looking at the paperwork that Angel had handed him.

"No kidding," Nina added with a slightly overwhelmed look on her face before she motioned to Angel that she was going to leave the room and get some air.

"There…wasn't time to…call you, it…all happened…to fast," Wesley finally said with a pained grimace on his face as he laid his hand out flat on his chest and then coughed up a bit of blood.

"I know, the two of you are lucky to be still in one piece, but now we have to get you out of here, we've given Wolfram and Hart the slip long enough but I know that they're closing in, we're running out of time to find and cast the spell," Angel said with a very serious look on his face as he walked over and picked up the bag that held Wesley's clothes off of the small chair.

"Don't worry Angel, I won't let you down, when we get back I'm going to find that spell and stop Wolfram and Hart from hurting any more of my friends," Willow stated with a very certain and determined expression on her face as she stood straight up and made sure that Angel heard her.

"I know you won't Willow, I think it's time that I call in an old fri…jerk," Angel started to say with a somewhat more hopeful look on his face before the light disappeared from his eyes and Katy got the strong impression that whoever Angel was thinking of calling it was someone that Angel did not like.

"Who do you…ah bloody hell not him…anybody but him," Spike started to ask with a confused look on his face before he caught Angel's eye and looked ready to punch a hole in the wall.

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Buffy sat down on the park bench and began to watch the people as they went about their day, wishing more than anything that she was one of them. She had thought that after the destruction of Sunnydale that the world would have found a new champion and that she could get a little peace and quiet. But then the explosion in LA had happened and once again she was thrust back into having the weight of the world on her shoulders, or so she thought. So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice Giles walking towards her.

"We will get through this Buffy," Giles said softly with a concerned look on his face as he sat down on the park bench beside Buffy and watched as she dropped her head into her hands.

"I know we will Giles, but how, I mean…God, he's doing it to me again…turning my entire life upside down, and on top of that my oh so patient boyfriend wants me to leave with him tonight and return to Rome for a fashion show," Buffy said with a completely overwhelmed edge to her voice as she kept her head in her hands and looked like the weight of the world was crushing her.

"Angel," Giles offered up softly with a sympathetic expression on his face as he gazed down at Buffy.

"Who else," Buffy groaned with an annoyed scowl on her face as she pulled her head out of her hands and turned to Giles momentarily before looking back out over the park and watching a leaf being blow around by the wind.

"I don't pretend to know what Angel's plan is, but so far I believe that it's safe to say that both Willow and Dawn are alive and relatively unharmed," Giles said with a serious but hopeful look on his face as he leaned down and picked up a large leaf off of the ground.

"You don't sound to convincing you know," Buffy shot back with a less than excited look on her face as she leaned back on the bench and stared up into the sky.

"I'm sorry Buffy, but look at it this way, if Angel had lost his soul and become Angelus again he would have already killed both Willow and Dawn and used that fact to taunt you, or he would have turned one of them and sent them to kill you, or something of that nature…," Giles replied with a nervous and very concerned look on his face as he slowly began to tear the leaf apart before Buffy interrupted.

"That's really making me feel better about this," Buffy said with a very sarcastic look on her face and tone to her voice as she glanced over at Giles.

"Well then you've uncovered Giles' superpower, scaring us even more than we already were," Xander interjected with an overly humorous smile on his face as he walked up to the pair with a nervous looking Lorne not to far behind him.

"Thank you for that inane and completely useless comment Xander," Giles grumbled with a frustrated and annoyed scowl on his face as he snapped his gaze up at the former carpenter.

"Hey now, there's no need to get snippy," Lorne said with a lightly scolding tone of voice as he walked up and tried to smile warmly at Giles.

"No one asked for your opinion Lorne," Giles shot back with an unhappy scowl on his face as he looked up at the empath demon just as a car pulled up to the park and a bald man got out.

"Okay everybody, let's just calm down and…Robin," Buffy started to say with a nervous expression on her face as she stood up and positioned herself in between Lorne and Giles before she spotted the former principal of Sunnydale High School walking towards her.

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"Uh…Angel, can I ask you something," Willow asked softly with a timid look on her face as she walked into the kitchen while Angel set a mug of blood in the microwave and shut the door.

"Sure, just as long as it's not about my plan for stopping Wolfram and Hart," Angel said back with a calm and collected edge to his voice as he entered the time and hit the start button.

"Okay, did…did she…Cordelia, did she…suffer, when she died," Willow stammered out softly with a scared and sad pout on her face as she slid onto one of the stools and waited for what she expected to be Angel's angry outburst. What she got instead was the sight of Angel's shoulders slumping a bit and his whole demeanor changing to one of a person who had lost someone very special to them and hadn't completely worked through their grief.

"I…no, I don't think so…I'm not sure, I don't even completely understand what happened to her," Angel answered with a very soft and sad tone to his voice as he refrained from turning around and instead glanced up at the novelty calendar that David had put up on the wall.

"You lost me…what's there to understand, she is dead…right," Willow wondered with a confused look on her face as she picked up the salt and pepper shakers and began to rearrange them.

"Yes, it's just that when I got the call that she had woken up from the coma Wes and I flew over there so fast…probably ran more than a few red lights on the way, everything was going great until I got that damn call telling me that she had never woken up from the coma and slipped away peacefully, except then if she never woke up who…or what was it that I talked to all day, that I…," Angel answered softly with a depressed and then confused look on his face as the microwave beeped and he opened the door and took the mug out.

"Are you sure that she was ever there, maybe you dreamed the whole thing…or hallucinated it," Willow offered with an anxious and confused expression on her face as she set the salt and pepper shakers down.

"No Willow…I didn't hallucinate that kiss, she was real…enough, if you don't believe me then you can ask Spike," Angel snapped back with a very certain and confident growl in his voice before it became soft and he glanced away, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a sip.

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Doing their best to keep a low profile the migrations began. One from the sewers and tunnels underneath London and the surrounding cities and the other from across the globe as the best of the best was rushed to London to battle the threat that they had been alerted to only hours earlier. Both groups were heading straight towards London, with one rejoicing at the return of one of their own to the fold while the other to stop an apocalypse that they believed was only days away. One group hid from the light of day while the others hid in the shadows of everyday life until an opportunity arose to continue their crusade. Whichever side would win was not really important to the one that had sent out the alarm hours earlier, he only cared about a diversion for himself and those that he loved.

END OF CHAPTER 22


	23. Getting Closer

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 23-GETTING CLOSER**

"How are you feeling," Angel asked softly with a concerned look on his face as he pulled the chair up to the edge of Wesley's, who was propped up into a seated position, bed and sat down. Faith sat at the foot of the bed, doing her best to appear as if she were looking something up in one of the books that sat nearby. But in truth she was only there to make sure that Wesley stayed awake and to hear the conversation between the two since she had most of Wesley's memories swirling around in her head. She knew as much as he did that certain events in the past had to be rectified and answered for, for her partially because of what had happened between them the night before. She still didn't fully know how or what exactly to think and feel about the experience that they had shared. She knew that she had a blast that night from top to bottom, except that her back still stung a bit.

"Like someone that's lucky to be alive," Wesley replied with a tired expression on his face as he shifted his weight in bed a bit and winced slightly.

"No argument here, but listen about Connor and," Angel started to say with a nervous look on his face as he began to pop his knuckles one after the other.

"I understand Angel, it's in the past, not something that you're proud of but we can't go back and do anything about it so we should just move on and be happy that we're still here instead of being dead like the others," Wesley interrupted with a serious but yet sad look on his face as he turned his gaze away from Angel and focused it out of the window, not noticing when Faith glanced up with worry filled eyes as he said the word dead.

"I agree, however unless we find that damn spell the fact that we made it out of LA won't matter much for long, the first part of my plan has already begun and even if we wanted to we can't stop it now," Angel said with a grimly serious scowl on his face as he scratched at an old scar on the back of one of his knuckles.

"You do have the flare for the fatalistic battle plans ya know," Faith chipped in with a sly grin on her face as she flipped a page and barely glanced up, with Angel sending her a not amused glare and Wesley holding back a grin.

"Angel…have you given any thought to what happens after all of this is over, we can't go back to LA, I'm certainly not going to stay with my parents, Giles and the new council will want no part of any of us and Wolfram and Hart will still want us dead," Wesley asked with a very serious and not to excited look on his face as he turned back to Angel and hoped that he would have spent hours pondering that very question.

"Not really, I'm still trying to make sure that we all come out alive this time, I'll deal with the what happens next when we get there," Angel replied with a guilty grin on his face as he shook his head.

"At this rate it'll be if we get there," Wesley added dryly as he shook his head and started to pull the blanket off of his lower half.

"What are you doing," Faith exclaimed with a surprised and somewhat angry look on her face as she let go of the book that she had been skimming and was instantly on her feet and at his side.

"Getting out of this bed and helping to find that damn spell," Wesley growled with a frustrated and pained grimace on his face as he started to swing his legs out from underneath the blanket.

"Oh no you're not," Faith shot back with a very determined look on her face as she grabbed the edge of the blanket with one hand while doing her best to keep Wesley's legs where they were with the other.

"You should stay here Wes, you can decipher the books as easily here in bed as you could downstairs, Faith can bring them up to you," Angel added with a concerned look on his face before the matter was decided for them when Wesley winced badly in pain and fell over onto his side on the bed.

"Wesley," Faith shouted in a panic as she frantically climbed onto the bed while Angel rushed to the door and shouted for David's personal doctor.

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"Mind if I sit here," Nina asked with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as she slowly approached Connor, who was sitting on one of the benches in the backyard and staring solemnly up at the sky.

"I already said that I didn't want to talk Morgan, so why don't you just…oh…Nina, it's you," Connor started to growl back with an angry scowl on his face before he noticed that it was Nina instead of Morgan and his face flushed with embarrassment as he turned away and stared at the ground.

"Something wrong," Nina asked with a worried expression on her face as she sat down beside Connor and crossed her legs.

"No," Connor grumbled back with a nervous and frustrated scowl on his face as he looked away from Nina and zipped up his coat a little bit more.

"Wanna talk about it, I've heard that I'm a good listener," Nina added with a sympathetic and compassionate smile on her face that managed to soften Connor's resolve just enough.

"She's been avoiding me all day, she said that she wanted to talk to me last night but I haven't seen her all day," Connor mumbled softly with a hurt look on his face as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked down at his knees.

"She's probably scared Connor, scared that she doesn't know how she feels about you yet and when she sees you talking to Katy all of the time she gets these wild ideas about what you're doing together," Nina said with a calm and soothing tone to her voice as she made sure that she didn't make any sudden moves that would startle him and to make sure that he listened to everything that she said.

"How do you…what does everyone know about this, I told Katy that I didn't want her to make a big deal out of it," Connor grumbled with an exasperated and frustrated scowl on his face as he hung his head and pouted.

"No Connor, Katy didn't tell me anything, I only picked up on your feelings for Morgan when I overheard the fight that you two had last night and then the look in your eyes afterwards, as for how she feels about you…well a woman knows these things," Nina replied with a kind smile on her face as she picked a hair off of her jeans and let the wind blow it away.

"So…what do I do," Connor finally asked after the two sat in total silence for several moments.

"Just be yourself and don't push it, if she feels the same way then great…but if she doesn't then don't hold it against her, there's plenty of women out there Connor, you'll find the right one for you someday, whether it be Morgan or someone that you haven't even met yet," Nina replied with a content expression on her face as she watched the breeze form ripples on the top of the pond.

"It's a nice sentiment Nina, but I don't want to follow in my father's footsteps in the relationship department, I want to have a life…a home, a family," Connor said with a heartfelt and heart wrenching tone to his voice as he stood up and shook his head.

"I don't think that Angel wants you to be alone either Connor, he just doesn't want you to make the same mistakes that he did…and given his age I think that he's probably made more mistakes than any man in history," Nina said with a hopefully calming and supportive tone to her voice as she stood up and cautiously laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Except for now…he seems to be happy…with you I mean," Connor stammered out with a nervous and slightly embarrassed frown on his face as he tried to look at Nina but found that he couldn't.

"Well…thank you, that means a lot…really, but there is something that I need to know, I know that he loved Cordelia and I'd never think of trying to replace her but I…need to know if there was anything special between them, like a special song, meal, movie…something like that, because I don't want him being hurt any more than he already has, and if I," Nina said with at first a relieved smile on her face and a heavy sigh before she grew nervous and timid before making the request of Connor.

"I understand," Connor said back with a very small smirk on his face before the two launched into a very detailed conversation.

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"Do you really think that he can be trusted," Spike asked with an unconvinced scowl on his face as he poured himself a drink and sat down next to Angel on a couch in the study.

"Of course not, he's tried to kill us both remember, but he can help provide us a distraction when all is said and done," Angel replied with a skeptical laugh as he leaned back and glanced over at Spike.

"Alright, but are we sure that he's not going to try and play hero and come charging in to rescue Buffy, if he does that then he'll ruin everything," Spike said back with a counterpoint as he shook his head and took a sip of his drink.

"He won't Spike, trust me…I've made arrangements to keep him busy, besides they don't even know that I'm the one that tipped them off to what's going to happen, all that they think is that they got a hot tip that a big vampire convention is going to be held here in London in the next few days," Angel said with a deep in thought smirk on his face as he shifted his position and took a useless breath.

"Get them fighting each other instead of us…I like it," Spike said softly with a sly grin on his face before he nodded his head slowly at Angel.

"Thank you," Angel agreed with a very smug grin on his face as he did a mock-seated bow and turned just as Groo and Gwen entered the room.

"We have news, the lady Elizabeth has found another ally, a strange dark man without hair," Groo said with a very serious but eager look on his face, as he was glad to be the one to tell Angel and Spike the news.

"He doesn't sound familiar…," Angel said softly before letting his voice trail off as he sat up and then stood up off of the couch with Spike right behind him.

"He does to me…black man, about six feet tall, decent build, looking like he owns the place," Spike wondered with an almost disappointed pout on his face as he walked back to the bar, finally silently offering Gwen a drink.

"That's him, so are you tight or something," Gwen asked with a slight nod of her head as Spike got her a glass of her own and poured her a drink.

"Hardy, he's the son of a slayer that I killed in New York back in the seventies, took her coat as a prize, her name was Nikki Wood, and little Robin Wood grew up hating my guts and made it his personal mission in life to see me dusted for what I did, he showed up in Sunnydale about the same time that I did after I got my soul, took Buffy out on a date to…when they didn't hit it off he set his sights on Faith, and got better results, at least until they broke it off and she showed up in LA on Giles' behalf…piss drunk," Spike answered with a useless sigh as he set the beaker back down and handed Gwen her drink.

"Does he know about the rest of us," Gwen asked with a concerned look on her face as she took the drink from Spike and then took a sip.

"I doubt it, I'm not sure if he's heard of Angel here, but if he's hooked up with Buffy and the others then I doubt that it's going to take to long for them to tell him everything," Spike replied with an unhappy scowl on his face as he gestured to Angel.

"What kind of threat is he, should we be concerned, maybe change the plan," Gwen wondered openly with a curious smirk on her face as she swirled her drink around a little bit.

"No, we're not changing the plan, from what Spike has said he's had the basic watcher training for combat, couple that with an intense hatred for my family…and in the end…he's only a threat if we let him become one, hopefully he'll get caught up in the diversion that I have planned," Angel stated with a very clear and certain tone to his voice as he walked across the room and let his gaze rest on an old clock on the wall in front of him.

"And if he touches the Niblet or Nina…feel free to fry his ass," Spike said very pointedly to Gwen as he stepped in front of her so that she could make no mistake about his intentions, with Angel only nodding his head in agreement to Spike's statement.

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"Wesley…what in the hell do you think you're doing," Faith exclaimed with a sliver of fear in her voice as she entered the room carrying two plates of food when she spotted Wesley hobbling his way towards the bathroom, holding his side and wincing lightly in pain.

"Had to go to the bathroom," Wesley replied with a frustrated scowl on his face as he took another couple of steps before Faith quickly set the two plates down on a nearby table and rushed to his side.

"Well then you should have told me, I could have helped you," Faith chided him with an annoyed expression on her face as she tried to take his arm but he waved her off.

"I've been going to the bathroom on my own since I was a child Faith," Wesley shot back with a less than polite tone to his voice as he leaned over just a bit so that he could support himself with a hand on top of the bed.

"I didn't mean…I meant that I could have helped you get over there, even though your legs didn't get hurt having broken ribs keeps you from getting a full breath and you spend more time worrying about taking your next breath then watching where you're going," Faith snapped back with an impatient and frustrated frown of her own as Wesley finally go back to the head of the bed and sat down.

"Sounds like you've had experience in this department…care to share," Wesley said with the edges of his mouth curling up into a smirk as he took the deepest breath that his ribs would allow him to.

"Only if you promise to eat something while I change your bandages, I'm not that good of a cook but I make a wicked macaroni and cheese with hot dog chunks cut up and mixed in," Faith answered with a sheepish and slightly embarrassed half smile on her face as she stepped away from Wesley and retrieved the two plates first before she went back and got the bandages and other supplies from the table by the door.

"Deal," Wesley said back with an amused grin on his face that Faith glared at before launching into her story. Surprisingly she was a better storyteller than he had expected and actually found the story interesting. At the end there was only one question in Wesley's head. "So…have you given any thought to what you're going to do after we defeat Wolfram and Hart, I honestly don't see you going back to the United States to go back to prison," Wesley asked with an interested look on his face as he picked up his fork and stabbed a bit of hot dog before popping it into his mouth.

"You're not wrong, not sure if I'll ever go back to America…who knows, maybe I'll see what all the fuss is about Europe," Faith said with a half hearted shrug of her shoulders as she set her plate down on the bed between them.

"Want some company," Wesley offered with a sly grin on his face that he kept hidden as he stared straight down at his plate.

"I don't think that David would be the best guy to trek around Europe with," Faith said with a happily sarcastic grin on her face as she leaned back and seemed to seriously ponder taking the owner of the house with her before she caught Wesley's surprised stare and cut off his next question by leaning in towards him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She started to back up before Wesley countered and leaned forward into a kiss that stopped Faith in her tracks. When the two finally came up for air they grinned and glanced down to find that they had spilled what was left on their plates onto the bedspread.

"Well I'm sure that Mr. Nabbit can afford new bed sheets," Wesley said with a slightly anxious look on his face as Faith picked up both plates and their utensils and set them down on the nightstand. She started to turn back but stopped when she felt one of Wesley's hands brush her hair aside and a finger trickle down the back of her neck. The trickling finger was followed closely by a soft and gentle kiss, a kiss that sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine and throughout her body, causing her to giggle softly despite herself. In response the soft kiss on the back of her neck turned into a trail, trekking first down her neck to where her shoulder met her neck and then up around her jaw until Faith leaned back and turned her head to the side just in time to catch Wesley's lips in a full kiss. Her right arm reached back and held Wesley's head in place as he slipped his left arm around her waist and pulled her back towards him. After several seconds Faith groaned and reluctantly pulled away and stood up. Just as Wesley was about to ask what she was doing Faith walked across the room and locked the door.

"Don't want anyone walking in on us, I'm really not in the mood for show and tell right now," Faith said with a sly grin on her face before she pulled her shirt off on the way back towards the bed.

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Gwen slid her bathrobe off and slipped into the waiting bubble bath. After giving her report to Angel about Buffy's actions she had excused herself firmly, telling Angel to not bother her for the next several hours. Wanting to be alone she told Groo to go for a run or something. Surprisingly he had found a willing volunteer to run with him in Illyria, who was curious about why one would run for fun, that and because Willow continued to keep her distance and Illyria didn't have the patience to find out why. Dawn had tried to help Willow but ended up getting bored and had soon dragged Michelle into her room to try and improve the slayers wardrobe. The day was almost over when an extremely celebratory scream was heard throughout the house, "Yes…everybody, I found the spell!"

END OF CHAPTER 23


	24. So, It's Come To This, Somehow

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 24-SO, IT'S COME TO THIS, SOMEHOW**

The announcement woke anyone up in the house that had tried to turn in early. Angel and Spike had been talking with Nina about what was going on with Connor and Morgan while Dawn was trying to find something good on to watch. Michelle was upstairs in her room looking at herself in the mirror in the outfits that Dawn had picked out when she heard Willow yelling. Oddly enough Wesley and Faith both looked as if they had just taken a shower when the two slowly came down the stairs and listened to an ecstatic Willow explain everything.

"Things are finally starting to look up," Gwen said with a cautiously optimistic expression on her face as she sat down in one of the chairs by the fire.

"At first glance yes, but now the hard part will be finding the location to actually perform the spell, after the last spell that we tried Wolfram and Hart is going to be watching our every move," Angel said with a relieved but yet very serious look on his face as he began to pace back and forth in between two shelves of books.

"Well whatever we do we can't hide here forever," Connor interjected softly with a very calm and truthful tone to his voice, as his gaze never left his father.

"You're both right, but what we need is a secondary diversion, if only to buy our main diversion enough time to fully work," Wesley said with a tired and worn out look on his face, though he looked very content, as Faith helped him over to the chair nearest to the fire and sat down on the armrest.

"This shit is getting more complicated every time we talk about it," Faith grumbled with an annoyed scowl on her face as she chose to ignore the glare from Michelle at her cursing.

"How soon can you cast this spell Willow," Angel asked with a very hurried and overwhelmed look on his face as he stopped pacing to look over at the witch.

"I need twenty four hours and I'll be good to go Angel, but it'll take me all of that time to get the spell ready so I won't be able to help you in finding out the proper place to use it, that'll be up to you and Spike," Willow answered with an excited but at the same time daunted at the task in front of her, being glad that she knew what she had to do and didn't have to scour the city for the correct location to actually cast the spell.

"I'll help," Katy offered with a cheerful grin on her face, as she half raised her hand and shifted in her seat on the couch, before she couldn't help but yawn as the hour started to grow late.

"Me to, though not sure how much I can help in my condition," Morgan chipped in with a scared but helpful smile on her face before she turned and looked over at Connor.

"Fine, Gwen, tomorrow morning I want you to take Groo, Katy, Morgan, and Connor out to try and find the location to best use the spell while Spike and I check the tunnels underneath the city and everyone else stays here and helps Willow with the spell," Angel announced with an unwavering look of determination in his eyes as he walked around the room.

"And just how are we supposed to find this…perfect location…for Red's spell, stop and ask someone on the street corner for directions," Spike asked with a confused look on his face as he sat up and leaned forward in his seat.

"I'll give each search group a talisman that I've charmed, it'll glow a special color when it comes close to a location that could be used as a location for the spell," Willow replied with a tired smile on her face as she walked across the room to stand by Spike, making sure to not look in Illyria's general direction. The ancient demon appeared to not be happy about this but kept her questions to herself and remained silent. After her run with Groo Illyria had done an odd thing for her and taken a shower, and changed into something that hid her shell's previous occupation better than her previous outfits, something that she had decided to do after catching a few late night movies on cable.

"Hopefully by tomorrow night all of this will be over and life can get back to some semblance of normal," Angel told everyone with a very commanding tone to his voice and way that he carried himself before most everyone retired for the night, with Wesley and Faith staying downstairs for several more hours, staring off into the fire and telling each other ghost stories until Faith drifted off to sleep and slid into the chair beside Wesley and the two fell asleep there.

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"What color did Willow say that this bloody thing was supposed to turn when we found the location for the spell," Spike asked with an impatient and frustrated pout on his face as he stopped walking and lifted his head up and gazed up through the dim light of the tunnels beneath the city.

"Blue…I think…or was it yellow," Angel replied quickly, at first with a very confidant half smirk on his face, before he had to stop and think of exactly what color Willow had said that it would glow when they neared the location. In response Spike looked like he was desperately searching for just the right comeback but he couldn't find one and finally settled for just a useless sigh and shrug of his shoulders before he continued follow Angel through the next section of tunnel.

"Angel wait…we really should…Wolfram and Hart guards on the streets," Spike finally said as the two passed through a set of tunnels without anything as a whiff of a breeze brought up scents that both had quickly come to know as the scent of Wolfram and Hart guards.

"I think you were right about not getting our hopes up," Angel said with a very serious and anxious look on his face as he walked back towards Spike.

"I hate it when I'm right," Spike grumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face as he leaned back into the darkness and shook his head.

"Why, I always thought that you loved to be right," Angel asked with a confused look on his face and an eyebrow arched as he briefly glanced up towards the surface before turning back to Spike.

"It's simple Peaches, usually when I'm right someone gets the shit kicked out of them, and this time that someone's probably going to be us," Spike grumbled back with a sly grin on his face as he slid the knife out of his boot and was ready for anything. He didn't have to wait long before the tunnel in front and behind them was filled with a long line of vampires.

"Guess Wolfram and Hart aren't the only ones that would like us dead…gee, and here I was feeling unwanted," Angel said softly with a darkly humorous grin on his face as he pulled out his own dagger and rushed forward after hearing a growl behind him and knowing that Spike had done the same.

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"We're supposed to be looking for the best location to cast the spell Morgan, not window shopping," Katy stated with a frustrated scowl on her face as she walked up beside the other slayer and shook her head.

"I'm not…just wondering…if Connor would hate me less if," Morgan mumbled back weakly with a very sullen and retreated pout on her face as she slightly shifted her wounded arm in its sling.

"If you got him something…please Morgan, Connor's not that materialistic and you know it, besides I have it on good authority that he does not hate you, he thinks that you hate him," Katy replied with a bored expression on her face as she looked away from the store window and scrunched up her face and used her hand to try and shield her eyes from the glare of the nearby car window and spot Connor and Groo.

"What, how could he think that," Morgan snapped with a scared gasp as she whirled her head around from the store window to stare over at Katy.

"Well perhaps it's got a little something to do with your crush on Spike…that and the fact that since we met you've barely said five words to him, and when you did you usually weren't in the best of moods, a guy could easily get the wrong impression, and from what I hear Connor's not exactly to smooth in this department," Katy answered with an anxious sigh as she shrugged her shoulders and checked the small talisman that Willow had given her to try and find the proper place to cast the spell.

"But I didn't mean to make him think that I hated him, I just didn't notice that he…God how could I have been so stupid," Morgan grumbled with a very frustrated and angry at herself scowl on her face as she tightly clenched her fist and looked ready to hit something.

"So you like him back then," Katy asked softly with a sly and restrained smirk of excitement on her face as she leaned in a bit towards Morgan.

"What, no I…okay maybe, I don't know," Morgan exclaimed with a very surprised and shocked look on her face at first before she blushed furiously and quickly looked away.

"I think that there's the rest of your problem, when you don't know the answer to something you clam up and look like you're pissed off about something, no wonder Connor thinks that you hate him," Katy said with a very certain and confidant look on her face as she lightly patted Morgan on her good shoulder before shrugging her shoulders and glancing over at Connor, who was busy discussing something with Groo several feet away.

"Well what if it is, what then, huh Katy, you act like you have all the answers, what if I do like Connor or might like Connor, what's my next move then," Morgan snapped with a frustrated and anxious expression on her face and in the pit of her stomach as she spun around to stare straight ahead at the other slayer.

"Tell him," Katy said back softly with a borderline arrogant grin on her face before she left Morgan alone at the window and walked back over to where Connor and Groo were.

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"I should be out there ya know, searching for that alpha site or whatever," Faith mumbled lazily with a content smile on her face as she lazily traced a line down Wesley's arm with her finger as they lay snuggled up tightly together in bed.

"Perhaps, but then again you're still recuperating," Wesley said back with a tired yawn as he stared up at the ceiling and began to idly count the number of off white specks on the ceiling.

"I have slayer healing remember, I've been perfectly fine since before Will's little wake up call," Faith shot back with a bit of sarcasm in her voice before a large yawn interrupted her.

"I know, however there's very little that I can do now…actually I really haven't done very much at all since coming back, Willow found the spell that I was supposed to be the one to find and soon she's going to cast the spell instead of me, almost makes me wonder why they brought me back in the first place," Wesley said softly with a somber frown on his face as he turned his head and stared out the window, letting out a troubled sigh before Faith jumped in.

"So you didn't find the damn spell…big deal, Angel didn't plan on getting Will on his side when they decided to bring you back, but look at it this way…there are a few things that you can do now that you wouldn't have otherwise," Faith interjected with a serious look on her face as she pressed herself up off of the bed at his side and then down directly on top of him so that she could look him straight in the eye.

"Such as," Wesley questioned with a confused look on his face as he raised his eyebrows and eagerly awaited Faith to explain her idea rather than force him to figure it all out for himself.

"Well we could give your jackass of an old man a heart attack if we wanted, we could find your obituary and frame it, guess you're done with paying taxes since legally you're dead…that could come in handy if we…," Faith surmised with a growing look of energy on her face before Wesley silenced her with a kiss that threatened to lead to other things before Wesley pulled back.

"What's with all of this we…talk Faith, you don't really strike me as the buddy type, more of a loner," Wesley interjected back with a half smirk on his face as he separated a few of her lusciously chocolate locks and twirled them around his finger.

"Hey, I can change…besides I doubt that this amulet or medallion or whatever the hell it is will ever let me go, better face it Wes, you're stuck with me whether you like it or not," Faith answered with a mock pout of hurt on her face before she leaned her head down and started to lightly nibble on Wesley's ear.

"Stuck with you…perish the thought," Wesley joked softly with an eager grin on his face as he kept a hold of the locks of Faith's hair with one hand while he tickled up the curve of Faith's ass with the other, eliciting a short giggle straight into his ear.

"I can be an ass sometimes can't I," Faith purred softly and seductively into Wesley's ear as he let go of her hair and brought that hand back under the sheets and down to join the other one in tickling from the bottom curve of Faith's ass to the top and then meeting in the middle.

"Quite right luv, you really can be an ass sometimes," Wesley complimented with a sly grin on his face before Faith slid her hands underneath him and brought the two together.

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"Wonder what they're doing up there," Dawn mumbled with a bored out of her mind expression on her face as she shut the book that she had been half skimming through and flopped back in her chair.

"You're joking right…you can't think of anything that Wesley and Faith would be doing together in their room," Willow asked with a calm look on most of her face as she peeked a glance at Dawn above the top of the book that she was steadfastly reading through but the edges of her lips curled up into a smirk all the same.

"What do you…oh, but them," Dawn started to wonder aloud with a confused look on her face before the answer struck her and she blushed deeply.

"Stranger things have happened…gotta say that I never saw those two as a couple coming, but they seem to be happy so…who am I to judge," Willow replied with a calm look of thought on her face as she sat back in her chair and seemed to ponder the state of the Wesley and Faith relationship.

"No one…just like me," Nina added with a nervous but warm smile on her face as she walked in and took a seat next to Dawn with Michelle carrying in a rather large book just behind her.

"Exactly, my romantic history is screwed up enough as is, it'd be like the pot calling the kettle black if I were to come down against them," Willow continued with a warm smile towards Nina before Illyria walked into the room, looking out of place.

"What is transpiring, the knowledge in these books will help us little, the true power lies within the blood of one of us, we must harness it," Illyria said with an eerily calm tone to her voice as if this were just any ordinary sentence that she was speaking rather than a riddle as it felt to those seated around her.

"What's that supposed to mean," Dawn asked with a very confused look on her face as she looked to Willow.

"Nothing Dawnie, it doesn't mean anything, she's just having some major delusions of grandeur," Willow replied with a frustrated and anxious scowl on her face as she glared across the room at Illyria, who seemed unfazed.

"I am not delusional, yet you address me with much scorn, have I committed some terrible sin against you that causes you to hate me so," Illyria asked with an uncertain look on her face as she turned fully towards Willow and began to walk slowly towards her.

"You mean other than murdering a friend of mine, and you don't even seem to care that you did it" Willow exclaimed with a quickly growing look of anger on her face as she stood up and set her book down on the desk in front of her.

"But you have killed as well, do you feel remorse for that act, do you…care," Illyria countered with a question of her own as she stopped walking towards Willow and cocked her head to one side.

"Every single second…of every single day, I…care…about what I did, I have to keep myself under control so that I never do that again," Willow stated with a very weary and serious scowl on her face as Dawn could have sworn that she was shaking, but whether from fear or anger she wasn't sure.

"Yet you continue to use magic, the root of your problem," Illyria added with a calm and collected look on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Yes…I do continue to use magic, I tried to give it up once but it didn't work, it's a part of me and I have to live with that and make it work for everyone," Willow answered with a very serious expression on her face before she shook her head angrily, picked up the book that she had been looking through and walked out of the room.

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"Think we got them all," Angel asked softly as he stepped back up against the wall of the tunnel, using it to keep himself standing.

"I hope so," Spike said with a tired look on his face as he spit out a bit of blood and gently touched his split lip.

"I don't know what they were but those were not regular vampires, they were to strong," Angel said with a look of great concern on his face before someone walking down the tunnel interrupted him.

"You're correct Angelus, they were not normal vampires, they were my own special design," The Immortal said with a proud smirk on his face as he walked slowly into the area that Spike and Angel were.

"Who the hell are…," Angel started to ask with an angry scowl on his face as he pushed off of the wall and stood under his own power.

"Oh that's right, you and I haven't actually officially met," The Immortal said with a sad pout on his face as he shook his head in mock dismay.

"But we have…he's Buffy's new beau," Spike said with venom gushing from out of his words as he pulled his knife back out and started to circle around to The Immortal's other side.

"Not for long," Angel snapped with an angry vampiric growl before he and Spike slipped their game faces on and attacked.

END OF CHAPTER 24


	25. Dance, Dance, Dance

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Morgan, Katy, and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 25-DANCE, DANCE, DANCE**

Faith dunked her head into the spray and let it get her hair good and wet before she turned back to find Wesley sitting on the edge of the tub holding the shampoo, grinning like an idiot, well in her eyes anyway. A very large section of her brain wanted to just scowl and slap him upside the head, but the water cascading down her face and obscuring her vision just enough made that impossible. If she had tried to slap him she decided that she probably would have missed him entirely and stumbled forward, more than likely with her luck crashing into his still very sore ribs and only causing him more pain. She had been careful before, unlike back in the alley, as she had kept herself from squeezing him to hard or putting all of her weight on him. She wondered what was going through his mind as he sat there and watched her lather up the washcloth and begin to take a shower.

He sat there watching her, studying every feature across her body like the surface of a map. His watcher training had made him be incredibly obsessed about detail. He put each scar, mole, and curve of her body into his mental map as he watched her begin her shower. When she glanced back and him he leaned back slightly and wondered what she was thinking. He guessed that she was wanting to make some flippant remark about him sitting naked on the edge of the tub watching her take a shower but since he hadn't taken one since shortly after waking up in the hospital, not a pleasant experience, he decided that he was in need of one as well. The side benefit of catching every moment of a wet, sudsy, and naked Faith only mere inches in front of him did not escape him, however that was something that he would never openly admit to her.

"Are you just going to sit there and stare all day or are you actually going to make yourself useful," Faith asked with a light look of scorn on her face as she leaned forward out of the spray of water and stared down at him.

"Haven't really decided yet, to me I've got the best seat in the house," Wesley replied with a sly grin on his face before Faith flung the washcloth at him, hitting him squarely in the face.

"Jerk," Faith snapped softly with a light tone of anger in her voice as she stepped over and took the offending washcloth out of Wesley's hands and returned to her place under the fountain of water.

"Bitch," Wesley shot back, with one eye open and the other held tightly shut because there was some soap on the eyelid, before he stood up and popped the top on the shampoo bottle.

"Does this make me your bitch," Faith pondered aloud with an almost giddy chuckle as she glanced back over her shoulder expecting him to still be sitting on the side of the tub instead of standing directly behind her.

"Guess so…I'm fine, don't worry," Wesley said at first with a soft laugh before he laid a hand on Faith's bare shoulder in an attempt to calm her worries about his condition.

"Okay…but as long as you're back there get to work," Faith

"Of course…but on what," Wesley whispered huskily into Faith's ear before he began to trail a line of kisses down her neck while his left arm slipped in between her left arm and the side of her body, heading forward.

"Down boy, there's plenty of time for that later…PLENTY of time, we need to get ready so that when Angel and the others get back we can be there," Faith said with a reluctant look in her eyes as she struggled to keep her mind and body on the task at hand and not give in to certain desires that were on the verge of claiming her wholly.

"Bloody…," Wesley mumbled sadly with a defeated pout on his face before Faith turned around and kissed it away.

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"I think this place goes on forever," Dawn said with a look of awe on her face as she peered around another corner.

"It looks that way doesn't it, I've been here for weeks and even I haven't seen all of the rooms," Michelle replied with a similar expression on her face as she limped around the corner and shook her head.

"Well at least it looks like there's a stairs at the end of the hallway, meaning that we get another story to explore," Dawn added with an impatient but subtly excited smile on her face as she began to walk down the hallway, being careful to not bump Michelle as she passed.

"But I don't remember this exit from the basement, there are three others stairways from the basement that I know about, I have no idea where these stairs go," Michelle said with a concerned and unsettled frown on her face as a bit of fear crept into her voice.

"Well then let's find out shall we," Dawn said back with an eager smirk on her face before she raced to the top of the stairs and gazed down into the darkness.

"Lead on," Michelle said with a sheepish grin on her face as she followed Dawn as fast as she could and soon was standing at the top of the stairs and both young women were peering down into the darkness, hoping to spot some kind of light switch.

"Okay…here goes," Dawn said slowly with a nervous look on her face as she hesitantly stepped down onto the first step, and when it didn't immediately give way beneath her weight she slowly began to walk down the steps into the darkness. The two had only gone a short distance down the stairs before they ran into something hard, something hard and slimy.

"Bloody hell," Someone roared out loudly in the darkness, causing both Michelle and Dawn to scream bloody murder and frantically begin flailing at whatever was in front of them.

"Dawn, Michelle no…it's us, Angel and Spike," Angel shouted out as loudly as he could as he rushed up the steps to help Spike pacify the two screaming young women. At first the two kept flailing away at the two vampires lower down on the stairs, but then something clicked in Dawn's mind and she stopped flailing away, just long enough for Spike to almost collapse onto her from exhaustion and because of his injuries.

"Spike," Angel shouted again before the shooting pain in his sides stopped his words as he doubled over and used the wall for support to keep himself upright.

"I'm fine…really," Spike weakly said back in response as Michelle and Dawn did their best to catch their breath while supporting the heavy and very slimy vampire on their shoulders before they helped him up the stairs and back into the light. Behind them they could hear Angel painfully making his way up the stairs behind them, no doubt terribly injured.

"Yeah right, and I'm mother…oh God," Dawn started to say back with the usual amount of Summers sarcasm before they got Spike back into the light and all of the air left her body in an instant. Blood seemed to coat every part of him, from his severely tousled bleached blond hair to the tops of his boots. Dawn fought back the tears as they ushered him away from the stairs.

"David…Willow…help," Michelle screamed out at the top of her lungs rather than faint as she took in what had happened to Spike.

"What happened," Dawn asked very pointedly as she and Michelle guided Spike over to the nearest room and kicked the door open.

"We had a talk with Buffy's new boyfriend…we almost had him, until the army of sabatin demons showed up…then all hell broke loose, we barely made it out," Angel replied with a very pained look on his face before Nina came racing down the hallway in a panic.

"Angel," Nina shrieked in worry and terror before Angel finally let down his guard and winced badly in pain as she did her best to prop him upright as Dawn and Michelle laid Spike down on the couch.

"What happened," Willow asked, going almost white in shock and fear, as she entered the room and took in the appearance of the two injured vampires. While not as bad off as Spike Angel was nowhere near fighting shape and Michelle could probably have taken him out at that moment if she was so inclined.

"Bloody sabatin demons…whole damn army of them," Spike mumbled out weakly before grunting in pain when Michelle slid a pillow underneath his head and did her best to gently peel away what was left of Spike's duster.

"Oh no," Dawn exclaimed with a very worried expression on her face as she knelt down beside Spike and did her best to fight back the urge to vomit at the sight of the large amount of blood and all of his injuries.

"Everyone out…except you Nina, I'll do what I can with my magic but it could take awhile, let's just hope that you two heal fast," Willow said with a very serious and determined look on her face as she hurried everyone out of the room before turning to Angel and Nina and beginning to chant the words to a healing spell.

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"What is she doing," Gwen asked with an impatient and frustrated scowl on her face as she watched Morgan slowly creeping up on Connor as he stood looking back and forth down the street each way.

"She's going to tell him," Katy whispered back with a very excited, proud, and nervous smile on her face as she grabbed a hold of Groo's upper arm and waited.

"Tell him what," Gwen shot back with an angry glare on her face as she did not appreciated Katy clinging to Groo.

"That she likes him, isn't it great," Katy replied with a sheepish smile on her face before she noticed Gwen's glare and quickly let go of Groo's arm and then backed away.

"Depends, what if he doesn't feel the same," Gwen started to say with an almost vindictive pout on her face as she turned away and stared down the alley at the new slayer and son of a vampire before Katy stepped in.

"Oh he likes her…he's got it bad for her, has ever since he first saw her, it's just taken her awhile to realize that she likes him back," Katy interjected with a slightly amused smirk on her face as she took a hesitant step forward and kept her gaze locked onto the pair at the far end of the alley. The three watched as Morgan finally got to Connor's side and said his name softly. He turned around sharply and Morgan visibly cringed at his sudden action before she seemed to lose the ability to speak. For several moments the two stood a mere foot apart, both to confused and nervous to say anything. Gwen was about to break it up when she saw Morgan finally get some words out. She was to far away to actually hear what she was saying but Gwen could tell that Morgan definitely had Connor's attention. Meanwhile a few feet away Katy was keeping her fingers crossed while trying not to get her hopes up as she watched the exchange between Connor and Morgan. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the two shuffle their feet, look away and then start to turn to separate. Katy was about to say something when Connor snapped back around, grabbed Morgan by her good arm and pulled her into a kiss that almost made the new slayer's knees buckle.

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Buffy sat silently in the room, with only Lorne keeping her company. Ever since she had met the odd looking demon a small voice in the back of her mind had begun to taunt her ceaselessly, saying over and over again that she was a horrible woman for abandoning those that she had claimed to love. Of course Lorne could not actually hear the soft voice in the back of Buffy's head but thanks to his empathy he could feel her emotions rolling off of her like waves on the seashore.

"Want to talk about it sugarplum," Lorne asked in his kindest voice and with his sincerest smile as he sat down in the only chair in the room and sat back.

"Huh…oh uh no, sorry Lorne, but I highly doubt that talking is what I need right now," Buffy mumbled back with an embarrassed smile on her face as she only barely looked up at the demon sitting across from her.

"You might say that but I haven't felt self deprecating vibes coming off of someone since…well…I promised," Lorne replied at first with a kind and interested look on his face before he seemed to realize what he was about to say and stopped himself.

"I guess it's just that…I don't know, I should have been more trusting, shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that Angel had gone bad, I should have at least paid him a visit, seen what the situation was for myself…but after losing Sunnydale…and Spike…I…I just couldn't…," Buffy said softly with her lower lip beginning to quiver slightly as she spoke before tears filled her eyes at the end and Lorne could tell that she was fighting back a large amount of tears as she whispered Spike's name.

"Don't beat yourself up over it anymore kid, so you screwed up royally…who hasn't," A familiar, if not annoying, voice called out of the shadows before Whistler stepped out of the bathroom and smiled at Buffy.

"Kayson, what are you doing here," Lorne asked with a surprised and confused look on his face as he sat up in his chair and looked straight at Whistler.

"What," Buffy exclaimed with a completely confused and surprised expression on her face as she looked back and forth between Lorne and Whistler.

"Yeah…I uh, should probably explain that toots, you see I…well you didn't think that I was only bound to this dimension did you, because that would be so…limiting, you see I can jump back and forth between dimensions like J Lo does husbands, and with each new dimension I take a new name…it helps keep me safe," Whistler answered with a sly grin on his face as Buffy tried to make sense of everything in her head while Lorne simply slowly began to nod his head in understanding.

"But you're an immortal demon," Buffy wondered with a confused and frustrated scowl on her face as she stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Got that right, except that doesn't mean that I don't have feelings, torture still hurts…and with some of the torture methods in the other dimensions…well let's just say that the you're lucky that you live in this one," Whistler said with a skittish and slightly uneasy look on his face before Lorne spoke up.

"So what are you doing here now, surely the world isn't about to end…again, I don't think that I can take another apocalypse, at least not in this outfit," Lorne asked with a concerned look on his face before he gestured to his dirty and stained suit.

"Sorry pal, but there's an apocalypse coming…headed up by the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart, that is unless you and yours work closely with Angel and his," Whistler answered with a calm look on his face as he cocked his head to one side and stared down at the bed that Buffy had previously vacated before flopping down onto it and lying down on his back, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head.

"Like that's going to happen, besides The Immortal…," Buffy started to say to counter with a frustrated look on her face before Whistler interrupted her.

"Stop right there, sorry honey but you can't trust your boyfriend…he's been lying to you and everyone else from the start, I know what he really is…and trust me, unless you have another like him you do not want to make him mad, and unfortunately the only other one like him that is currently active is not amongst your number," Whistler said with a suddenly very serious scowl on his face as he sat up in bed and stared straight at Buffy, making sure that she heard every one of his words.

"What's that supposed to mean," Buffy asked with a confused look on her face as she shook her head and stepped back towards the bed.

"That you're going to need to find her and then somehow persuade her to help you, she's the only one that can help you, and right now she and your best friend aren't getting along to well," Whistler answered with an almost humorous smirk on his face before he laid back down and stared back up at the ceiling.

"My best friend…Willow, you know where Willow is," Buffy exclaimed after slowly realizing who Whistler was talking about.

"Of course I do, I also know where both Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa are but…that's a story for another time," Whistler replied with a proud and smug grin on his face as he lightly nodded his head and closed his eyes.

"Can you take us to her…is Dawn with her," Buffy continued with a very worried and hurried expression on her face as her fears about Dawn instantly came to the surface.

"Your little sister and best friend are fine, they're safer with Angel than they would be with you, in fact your little sister's currently making up for lost time with an old friend," Whistler said with a happy smile on his face before he slowly waved goodbye and disappeared.

"An old friend…what's that supposed to mean, I hate it when he speaks in riddles," Buffy growled with an angry scowl on her face before she flung the door open and stormed out in search of Xander and Giles.

"If you only knew…William is one lucky son of a bitch," Lorne whispered softly under his breath with the edges of his mouth curled up into a smile after Buffy had gotten far enough away that she would be unable to hear him.

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Pain filled and clouded his vision as his eyes snapped back open. He instantly surveyed his surroundings, finding a very familiar smell very odd given the circumstances. When he forced himself to glance over he half smiled when he understood instantly what had happened after he had passed out when Willow had begun her spell. He was lying in one of the bigger rooms of the mansion with a very worried, and freshly showered, Dawn sat at his bedside, fast asleep. He smiled at how angelic she looked; figuring out that whoever ended up sweeping her off of her feet would be a lucky man. At that moment Spike made a mental note to have a talk with that man, whenever he would appear. Spike was just about to try and catch up on some sleep when Dawn stirred and slowly opened her eyes.

"Spike," Dawn exclaimed, loudly at first before she quieted down, as she got up and grinned down at him.

"I'm fine Dawn, see," Spike started to say with a confidant expression on his face as he started to sit up, but stopped instantly and growled in pain and clutched at his side, which he found to be heavily bandaged.

"Stop Spike, you're not healed yet," Dawn exclaimed with a very worried look on her face as she pushed Spike back down onto the bed before rushing to the door.

"I'm fine Bit, I don't need Red to cast another healing spell," Spike grumbled with a frustrated and pained scowl on his face as he shifted his weight around a bit.

"Are you sure," Dawn asked with a worried look on her face and a hand on the doorknob as she partially turned back to Spike.

"Of course Dawn, though I could use a spot of blood, David have any in the fridge," Spike said with a tired look on his face as Dawn took her hand off of the doorknob.

"I don't know, I'll go check," Dawn said with an unsure shrug of her shoulders before she gave Spike one last look and left the room.

"Thanks Bit," Spike started to say with a strong voice before weakening just before he shut his eyes and passed out.

END OF CHAPTER 25


	26. Trying To Make Sense Of Things

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 26-TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF THINGS**

"What happened," Wesley asked with a confused look on his face as he slowly walked into the kitchen and saw Dawn rooting around in the fridge. Not expecting Wesley to be up and around yet Dawn screamed in response before she snapped back out of the refrigerator with a jar of pickles in her hand, fully ready to hurl them at her supposed attacker.

"Whoa Dawn…easy, calm down…it's just me and Wes," Faith said with a hopefully calming but nervous expression on her face as she quickly entered the room behind Wesley and slid around in front of him. After the shower Faith had decided to dress down a bit, going more for comfort than for looks. So she pulled out the most comfortable pair of jeans that she could find and topped it off with a simple white shirt that smelled like Wesley's cologne. Feeling the house a bit warm she had forgone putting on any socks, instead stuffing them into her back pockets and then following a similarly dressed Wesley downstairs in bare feet.

"What…Faith, Wes…don't sneak up on me," Dawn exclaimed with an embarrassed half smirk on her face as she slowly lowered the jar of pickles.

"I'll try and remember that," Wesley said with a warm smile on his face as he walked over to the table and sat down, all under Faith's watchful eye until he was seated.

"So what were you doing lurking around in there anyway, looking for a middle of the afternoon snack," Faith asked with a curious smirk on her face as she hefted up her comfortable blue jeans a bit and made her way over to where Dawn was.

"I was looking for some blood for Spike, he and Angel fought The Immortal and almost killed him, but then some Sabatin demons showed up and nearly dusted them both," Dawn replied with a very serious and concerned look on her face as she ducked back into the refrigerator and found what she was looking for.

"Are they okay," Wesley asked with an impatient and alarmed look on his face as he started to rise up out of his chair.

"Easy Wes," Faith stated calmly with a touch of worry in her voice as she turned back to him and looked to be ready to make him stay in his seat before he complied and sat back down.

"They got pretty beat up but Willow cast a few healing spells on them, Angel's up with Nina in their room now, and Spike just sent me looking for some blood," Dawn finally replied with a concerned and anxious look on her face as she opened the microwave door and set the big mug of blood inside of it. Before anyone else spoke Dawn shut the door and set the timer and pushed start.

"This is not good, if there are more Sabatin demons than those that we fought in the alley then perhaps we should rethink our strategy for closing the portals for good," Wesley interjected with a very serious and deep in thought scowl on his face as he started to do some of the many calculations in his head.

"Wait a minute Wesley, I know that look, don't you dare even think for a second that I'm going to let you get anywhere near those demons, they nearly killed you the first time around and…," Faith started to say with a very scared and angry look in her eyes as she whirled around on Wesley and stared him down.

"Easy…I wasn't thinking anything of the sort, I was actually trying to figure out how such a large amount of Sabatin demons could possibly have arrived here without anyone noticing and doing something about it," Wesley replied with a calming expression on his face before Dawn went back to the refrigerator and opened it and then pulled out a big container of water while Faith hopped up and got a glass.

"Who knows and who cares how they got into London, we just have to make sure that when we're kicking some serious Wolfram and Hart ass…that we don't become their next target," Faith said back with a very serious look on her face as she took the water container from Dawn and poured a glass.

"But can we avoid that…really avoid it I mean, if what you said is true about how badly Angel and Spike were able to hurt this…Immortal, before the Sabatin demons showed up then I highly doubt that he's just going to let them off with a letting bygone's be bygone's," Wesley said with a very concerned and anxious expression on his face as he took the glass of water from Faith and drank it down in one smooth motion.

"Wait…what if he knows where we are, he could be sending that army of demons after us right now," Dawn squeaked with a terrified and paranoid look on her face before she rushed to the nearest window and looked out.

"That wouldn't be good," Faith mumbled with a very serious and well hidden tone of fear in her voice as she glanced around the room before Wesley handed her his glass of water back and she quickly filled it again, but this time downed the glass herself and then filled it up again.

"To say the least, you and I were barely able to take down a few Sabatin…we wouldn't stand a chance against an army the size of the one that you say that Spike and Angel saw the Immortal controlling," Wesley said with a very serious and worried expression on his face as he half smiled at Faith as he brought the glass of water up to his lips and paused there.

"All the more reason to get this portal spell cast as quickly as possible," Willow interjected with a nervous smile on her face as she walked into the kitchen and leaned back up against the island.

"Agreed, all the more reason that I should assist you in finding the location of the perfect place to cast the spell," Wesley said with a very determined look on his face as he slowly started to stand up, an act that was met by Willow looking like she was about ready to pounce on him while Faith shot to her feet and shoved her chair in. "I'm fine, as long as I take it slow," Wesley added with a tired but serious expression on his face as he slowly made his way out of the kitchen and into the hallway, with Faith's gaze never leaving him.

"You love him, don't you," Willow finally asked softly without the slightest bit of scorn, sarcasm, or disapproval in her voice as she watched the door slowly swing back and forth until it stopped moving.

"I…it's to early to tell," Faith stammered out with a very nervous and unsure look on her face before she spent a silent moment or two looking back and forth between the smiles on both Willow and Dawn's faces and then quietly excused herself from the room. After Faith left Dawn and Willow remained silent for several moments before the beeping of the microwave broke in.

"She's got it bad," Dawn observed without the slightest traces of a smile but a very certain tone of voice as she took the mug of hot blood out of the microwave and shut the door.

"Oh yeah," Willow agreed softly with an equally confidant and certain tone to her voice as she pushed off of the island and walked over to the cupboards as Dawn walked silently out of the room.

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"No Angel don't, just stay where you are," Nina pleaded with a worried look on her face as she walked back out of the bathroom only to find Angel starting to swing his legs over the side of the bed.

"I'm fine Nina, I don't have time to waste lying around in bed," Angel protested with a frustrated and pained look on his face before an almost heartbroken look started to cross Nina's face as she dropped her head. Before she could turn around and flee back into the bathroom Angel acted, lunging forward just enough to grab a hold of Nina by the wrist and pulling her forward and on top of him. Despite the pain that the act and Nina lying now provocatively on top of him Angel did not let out a single whimper or grunt of pain before he locked eyes with Nina. "I love you Nina, you, I love your smile, your sense of humor, of loyalty, the way you fiercely protect those that you care about, I love your strength…and I always will, never doubt that," Angel said with a very serious and sincere tone to his voice as he looked deeply in Nina's eyes and she looked deeply back into his. At first she had no response, but after several silent moments tears sprang to her eyes. Angel was about to reach up and wipe them away while trying his best to comfort her but he was stopped when she tilted her head to one side and kissed him like she hadn't before. She didn't break the kiss until she was in a desperate need of oxygen. Angel remained silent as Nina leaned back and inhaled deeply.

"Well…how was that," Nina asked softly with a very terrified and elated all at the same time look in her eyes before Angel couldn't help but smile and dive in for another kiss, his hands snaking down to her waist and sliding underneath her thin shirt. Nina mumbled something into his kiss before he slid his hands up her body, apparently tickling her the entire way given the excited shiver and smell that she experienced before his fingertips hit the bottoms of her breasts. She pulled her mouth back into a smile at that point and instead of vocally telling Angel to proceed she used all of her weight to force Angel back onto the bed until she was lying directly on top of him. He needed no more confirmation as deftly undid the clasp on the back of her bra and in one quick effort, barely breaking the kiss for more than a second, pulled both her bra and her shirt off over her head in one quick motion. Nina kicked off her shoes and divested herself of her jeans while still locked with Angel at the lips. It was naught two minutes later when Angel would later admit that looking back he was glad that David had bought such a large house and that sound didn't carry so well within it.

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"So you don't have any idea what Whistler meant," Giles asked Buffy with a confused and anxious expression on his face as he shook his head and cracked open one of the books that he had brought with him and laid it open across his lap.

"Not a clue…but then again Whistler's not exactly known for telling you what you want to hear, only what you need to hear, even if it's some weird mumbo jumbo that makes absolutely no sense, Dawn doesn't have any old friends that would be in London and the rest of us are here in the hotel," Buffy replied with a very frustrated and confused scowl on her face as she pulled the pillow of her bed from its place at the head of the bed and hugged it close to her.

"Was Dawn close to anyone on this other team, the one led by Angel," Robin asked with an eerily calm expression on his face and in his walk as he started to pace from one side of the small room to another.

"N…no, she barely knew Angel and Cordy before graduation and they haven't…no, she doesn't…didn't know any of them," Buffy started to reply with a scared tone to her voice as she looked up from her seated position on the bed before she allowed her chin to drop back down into the softness of the pillow.

"Then we're back to square one, with no clue what's going on," Xander interjected with a very worried look on his face as he shook his head sadly and stared out of the window.

"Not necessarily Xander, Buffy…did the demon say anything about this Whistler character," Robin asked with a still very serious look on his face as he kept pacing and didn't care to see Xander's surprised glare at the comment.

"He has a name," Buffy stated with an uncertain and surprised look on her face as she lifted her head up off of the pillow and stared oddly at Robin.

"Of course it does Buffy, it's trying to blend in to our society," Robin said with a look on his face that seemed to say that he could care less what Lorne's name was as he continued to pace the floor of the room without missing a single step.

"Well aren't you just the host with the most," Lorne said with a chipper yet sarcastic tone to his voice as he walked into the room out of the bathroom and smiled.

"We need to find Dawn as soon as possible, is there anything that you could track either one of them with…does Dawn have a cell phone," Robin asked with a slightly agitated expression on his face as he kept his gaze locked onto Buffy and refused to even look Lorne's way.

"Yeah…but she wasn't wearing it when she and Willow went out to eat so it's useless to us," Buffy slowly replied with a sad pout on her face as she worried about her little sister before being interrupted by Robin.

"Then that does certainly put us at a disadvantage," Robin said with a less than thrilled look on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets before shaking his head and leaving the room.

"Yes ladies and gentlemen…Elvis has left the building," Lorne said with a sarcastic and mocking smirk on his face before his countenance changed to one of wanting to smack Robin upside the heading but thinking better of it and staying in the room.

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"Hail the conquering hero," Willow said with a relieved smile on her face as she watched from the doorway as Dawn handed Spike the mug of blood and sat down in the chair beside his bed. Spike's only initial reaction was to glance up at her with a look of mock scorn in his eyes, a look that made Willow chuckle as she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

"Some bloody hero I am, nearly met a dusty end in a sewer," Spike said with an unhappy frown on his face as he pulled the mug of blood away from his mouth long enough to speak.

"But you didn't that's got to count for something right," Dawn said with a hopefully reassuring smile and tone of voice as she tried her best to lift Spike's spirits out of the doldrums.

"Thanks for trying Bit, but I can't stay in bed all day with that bastard out there running around free…with her," Spike said with a quick and kind smile to Dawn before he scowled heavily and tried very slowly and carefully to sit up and get out of bed.

"Are you sure that you've healed enough to," Willow started to say with a concerned edge to her voice as she hesitantly took a step towards Spike and physically prepared herself to do her best attempt at catching him if he fell before he cut her off.

"I said I'm fine…I just, can't sit still," Spike angrily snapped back at first before he saw the effect that his words had on Willow and Dawn and forced himself to calm down and take a useless deep breath.

"I understand you wanting to help Buffy Spike, but you can't do much for her in your current condition, don't worry I swear that you'll be all healed up by the time that I cast the spell," Willow said with a very positive smile on her face as she sat down on the bed beside Spike as he reluctantly remained silent and took another sip from the mug of blood that Dawn had brought him.

"I hope you're right, this is going to be big…bigger than what happened in LA and sure as hell bigger than Sunnydale," Spike said with a very determined and serious tone to his voice, the look in his eyes, and his posture as both Dawn and Willow knew the full gravity of the situation that they were facing.

"That's…pretty big," Dawn said softly, almost in a whisper as she sat down on the bed beside Spike on the opposite side of Willow and laid her head on his shoulder.

"And that's exactly why you're going to stay here until it's over," Spike said with a soft but unwavering tone in his voice as he looked down at Dawn and waited for her to explode into an argument, he didn't have to wait very long.

"Oh no you don't Spike, don't even think about it, there's no way in hell that I'm going to sit here while the rest of you go out and get yourselves killed, or on the outside…permanently close the portals and save the world," Dawn exclaimed with a defiant and angry scowl on her face as she picked her head up off of Spike's shoulder and glared at him. He couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Okay…Bit, I give…I give," Spike said back softly with a very sly grin on his face before the glare on Dawn's face was replaced by a similar look that he had loved on Buffy's face. Mumbling an Italian curse under her breath Dawn sat back down on the bed and laid her head back on Spike's shoulder before the three got back to everything that had happened since the destruction of Sunnydale.

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"Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you and I had gotten off on a different footing, if I hadn't been the rebellious hellion and you the stick up your ass watcher, ever thought where we'd be right now," Faith asked with a dreamy and far away look in her eyes as she lay on her back on their bed and stared up at the whirring ceiling fan, stripped down to her underwear, which Wesley had picked out for her, resulting in it leaving very little to the imagination.

"Like if we would be in this position right now," Wesley said back with a tired yawn as he half lifted his head up and glanced down at Faith, while he was stripped down to his boxers, before he laid his head back down and gently tickled the bottoms of Faith's feet which were on the pillow near his head as her head was down near his calves.

"Yeah…well not exactly this position, but that I…wouldn't have," Faith started to say back with a half shrug before her eyes began to tear up and she looked away.

"We are both to blame for that Faith, and if I still held a grudge against you for that night we would never have happened," Wesley said back with a very clear and sincere tone to his voice and look in his eyes as he sat up just a bit and grabbed a hold of one of Faith's hands and gave it a squeeze, getting her to look at him.

"But how can you," Faith started to say more in a sad whisper than anything else as she sat up and reluctantly pulled Wesley up with her, leaving the two close enough that their breath warmed the other.

"Because I've been there Faith, I've been so low that you no longer think that any of your actions mean anything, that the consequences matter, that no one gives a damn whether you're alive or lying on the side of the road in a pool of your own blood," Wesley started to say with a very convicted look in his eyes as Faith looked up at him briefly before letting her head drop and her hair cascade down over her face and one of the straps on her bra slid off of her shoulder.

"Sure but," Faith started to mumble back with a sad and confused look on her face as she lifted a hand up and wiped away one of her tears.

"And because I've come out of it, seeing firsthand that it's not the end of the world that I thought it was, that I could recover from that, that my life wasn't over and I was damned for my sins…and neither are you, so I stopped being mad at you and forgave you for that night, now I only can hope to wish that you can forgive me for my being such a piss poor Watcher and…," Wesley started to say with a sad and self deprecating tone to his voice as he leaned forward and spoke the words straight into the warm and scented curls on the top of Faith's head before she snapped her head up and gazed stunned at him through the ringlets over her face.

"It wasn't your fault…it was mine, all mine…I was just to much of a…I don't deserve to be forgiven, I…," Faith said frantically with a panicked look in her eyes as she gazed up at the man that she loved until he silenced her with a soft finger on her lips.

"You are forgiven Faith…let it go," Wesley whispered softly under his breath and he dove in for the kill, cupping her face with one hand and devouring her mouth and then neck with kisses as with the thumb of his other hand he wound up the other shoulder strap to Faith's bra and then began to slid the garment down her body until he stopped at her waist.

"Only if you do," Faith shot back in an almost gasp whisper as she pushed herself up to her knees and then kissed Wesley fiercely before she broke the kiss and straightened up, hugging him tightly to her chest and letting go.

END OF CHAPTER 26


	27. Two Sets Of Love

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 27-TWO SETS OF LOVE**

He should have known that it would come down to a place like that. My father always loved to tell the story of how he had first met my mother. Watching her come alive while dancing to the music. Once he had even admitted to me that at the time he had thought it a bloody shame to have to kill something so beautiful. But he was a demon back then and that was his job. Every time that I would hear that story Aunt Faith would step in and remind me that she always was a better dancer than my mum, to which my mum would just smile and nod her head. The location for the spell seemed to hark in back to the early days of my mum's battles in Sunnydale, with Aunt Willow saying that it reminded her greatly of The Bronze. Growing up I always wished that I could have seen that place, even if only for one night, after hearing all of the stories told about it.

Memoirs of William "Spike" Summers Jr.

"I don't think that this thing is ever going to glow," Katy said with a defeated pout on her face as she sat down on a park bench beside Groo. The quintet had spent the entire day searching for the right location for the spell but so far had come up empty handed. The only positive experience of the day had been that Connor and Morgan no longer avoided each other and now couldn't be separated. After the kiss the two hadn't gotten more than two feet from each other. Connor had become very protective of Morgan and her injured arm and had opened seemingly every door for her and when someone had tried to ask her for some change Connor had nearly snapped the man in two.

"I know that this task is daunting and appears to have been unsuccessful, but we must press on and find the location that which the spell might best be cast in, our friends are in danger," Groo replied with a look of earnest concern on his face as he tried his best to help Katy stay positive.

"I know Groo, but I'm not exactly familiar with this city, for all I know we've been going around in circles all day," Katy said back with a frustrated and scared look on her face as she slumped forward and ran her hands nervously through her hair, sadly noticing how many split ends she was getting in what had once been perfect hair.

"Come on you two we still have time, we just have to keep looking," Morgan said with a tired but hopeful look on her face as she stepped down off of the curb and half turned back towards them.

"We will find the location for the spell, we do not have anything to fall back on, we either do this or die trying," Connor added with a very grim and serious look on his face as he leaned on a streetlight and crossed his arms in front of his chest, shivering slightly against the cold.

"I know the risks…damn why does it have to be so cold here," Katy started to snap back at Connor before she caught herself and grumbled the rest as she imitated Connor by crossing her arms in front of her chest, but for her she had a more pointed reason to do so.

"This is not cold, why during one drakken hunt I was forced to…," Groo started to say with a slightly overly eager grin on his face as he started to tell the story but was cut off when Gwen whirled around and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Please babe, spare us that one, I think that I've heard it so many times I can recite it from memory," Gwen interrupted with a very restrained voice as Connor could tell that she hated this particular story and was trying to stop Groo from telling it while at the same time keeping him from thinking that she hated it.

"But it is a great story of persevering through overwhelming adversity," Groo said back with a confused and somewhat hurt look on his face that caught Gwen off guard and she stammered something out underneath her breath before she was saved by a yelp of excitement from Katy.

"Finally," Katy shrieked with an extremely excited grin on her face as Gwen was sure that the young slayer was going to cry, but no tears came, as she jumped up out of her seat and darted across the street, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a passing car.

"Katy what…come back here," Morgan shouted out in the confusion as she quickly checked both ways and dashed across the street, Connor close on her heels.

"It's glowing, we're close," Katy shouted out back over her shoulder with a deliriously happy grin on her face before she ducked into an alley and forced the others to hurry to keep up.

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She slowly slid her fingernail across the soft skin of his stomach, pausing momentarily at his bellybutton before continuing in her circular pattern. Not wanting to wake him she had decided to use only a featherlike touch of one of her fingernails. As she went she wondered just how many times had the flesh that she was now most likely tickling been bruised, battered, and beaten. When she came across a few old scars she debated whether or not to even touch them. But her wanting to love this man got the better of her and Nina slowly leaned in and kissed one of the scars on Angel's side, at first not getting much of a reaction out of him. Seeing this she continued kissing each and every scar that she could, careful not to touch any of the recent ones of which there were still light bruises despite Willow's spell and his vampire healing. She had just kissed a small crescent shaped scar at the bottom of his ribcage when he woke up.

"Nina, what are you doing." Angel asked with a half asleep and half confused smile on his face as he lifted his head up and shifted just enough to slightly slide Nina off of him.

"When I was a kid and I got a scratch it didn't matter what my mother did to it the scratch didn't stop hurting until she kissed it," Nina softly replied back with a smile as she hovered over Angel long enough to lean up and kiss him softly on the mouth before lying down at his side and tickling his underarm with the ends of her hair.

"Thank you," Angel said with a content smirk on his face before he shifted his weight and rolled over onto his side, momentarily smothering Nina with his kisses while sliding his left hand up her side from her pelvis until his left thumb came to rest just under her right breast.

"We…we should go downstairs and see, if anyone has anything," Nina said softly with a very reluctant tone to her voice in between Angel's kisses as even though she didn't want to leave their room she knew that they had to.

"Do we have to," Angel sadly asked back with a string of kisses that led down the side of Nina's neck as his left hand slid around to her back.

"As much as…I hate to admit it, yes," Nina mumbled back as she fought to stay in control of herself and did all that she could to gently push Angel away, despite how much she wanted to do anything but.

"Okay, but…," Angel started to say back with a fake look of hurt on his face as he pulled back away from Nina and sat up.

"We're running out of time here Angel, remember," Nina said back with a reluctant scowl on her face as she sat up and looked around for her clothes.

"I know," Angel said darkly with a very nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stood up and walked over to the chair to pick up his jeans.

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"There you are," Morgan shouted, nearly out of breath, as she came to a stop beside the other new slayer on a street corner. They had been chasing the Russian-American slayer for almost an hour, ducking in and out of alleys in what seemed like a winding course through the city of London.

"Are you crazy, why did you…," Gwen started to demand with a very angry scowl on her face as she finally emerged from the alleyway and leaned lightly on the light pole for support.

"We're here," Katy said with an excited smile on her face, completely ignoring the glare that she was getting from Gwen.

"Where," Connor asked with a slightly winded expression on his face as he leaned back against one of the nearby buildings and took a deep breath.

"We found the location for the spell, look," Katy replied with an overly excited smile on her face as she turned around and showed a bored looking Gwen and the others that the talisman that they had been given by Willow was now glowing brightly.

"Guess that thing works after all," Morgan said with a winded smirk on her face and shrug of her shoulders before she stood fully back up and turned to Gwen, "What now?"

"Now we make sure that we found the right place, then we head home," Gwen replied with a calmer but yet still upset expression on her face as she turned and looked up at the location that they had come upon.

"The Shahid Imzadi, never heard of it," Groo said with an unsure frown on his face as he looked across the street at the club.

"Me either, but there's always new clubs popping up and then going broke days later, let's go," Gwen said with a careless shrug of her shoulders before she hurried across the street.

"What if they have an age limit, Katy, Connor, and I aren't twenty one," Morgan said with a worried look on her face as the rest of them crossed the street under light traffic and joined Gwen in front of the club.

"It doesn't look like it's open," Connor said with an unimpressed look on his face as he studied the front of the club and its surroundings.

"Good for us then, come on," Gwen said with a very serious expression on her face as she slipped into the alley beside the club and headed towards a side door.

"What are you doing," Groo asked with a confused look on his face as he looked to see if anyone had noticed them ducking into the alley before he did so himself.

"Having a little look around," Gwen said with a slight smirk on her face before she pulled a set of lock picks out of one of her pockets and got to work, quickly finishing and as silently as possible pushing the door open. Katy and Morgan looked on in a stunned silence while Connor looked like he had seen it a million times. "You guys just going to stand there all night or," Gwen added with a slightly pressed for time look on her face before she ushered the small group inside. They walked through a little ways of winding hallways that were only wide enough for one person to walk through at a time before they got to a doorway that led out into a large rectangular dance floor with tables and chairs set up in each corner and at the far side a rather sizeable stage set up for a band. A two level bar sat at the end of the rectangle furthest away from the front door as there ran a very large and well constructed catwalk, with stairs leading up to and down from it, that ran around the entire room, looking large enough for many people to dance on.

"Wow," Katy breathed out softly with a very surprised look on her face as she slowly walked out into the middle of the room and wished that more of the lights were on. Soon though the talisman that Willow had given them began to glow so brightly that rather than have her corneas burned she resorted to sticking it in one of the pockets of jeans.

"I bet that this place is packed every night," Morgan added with a great look of awe on her face as she went to look for a light switch.

"It is enormous, you could probably fit the entire mud pits of Glimnor within these walls and still have room for the den of Doesnip," Groo said with a very impressed grin on his face as he began to walk around in the vast emptiness that was the club.

"The what," Connor asked with a totally confused look on his face before Gwen cut in just as Morgan found the lights and turned them on one stream at a time.

"Don't ask…please, it'll save us all the time and effort," Gwen interjected with a bored stiff and slightly nervous look on her face before she made her way up the nearest set of stairs to get a better look at the club.

"Willow should have plenty of room in here tomorrow, the only problem will be getting all of the people out before we do the spell and then hiding the fact that we're going to cast a spell that could destroy this entire building from the owners," Katy said with a deep in though look on her face as she walked over to the stage and gently ran her fingers down the strings of a bass guitar that was lying propped up on the stage.

"That's all easier said that done, we're probably not going to be able to simply ask them to use the building, we'll probably just have to get rid of the owners beforehand," Gwen said with a loud voice as she slowly began to walk around on the clubs second floor towards the two level bar.

"We can't kill them," Morgan shouted back with a stunned and surprised look of horror on her face as she snapped her gaze away from Connor long enough to concentrate it solely on Gwen.

"Of course we're not going to kill them, what I meant was that we'd knock them out and tie them up before we started the spell, they wouldn't know what was going on until it was all over and we were long gone," Gwen quickly replied with a slightly embarrassed look on her face as she leaned forward onto the railing.

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"So there's nothing left of her in there, nothing at all," Dawn asked with a timidly scared look on her face as she huddled behind Spike in the doorway of the library as they watched Illyria calmly flipping through one of the ancient tomes.

"Afraid so Bit, except for some left over memories and emotions," Spike whispered back under his breath with an unhappy scowl on his face as he glanced back at Dawn hiding behind him.

"That's just…creepy," Dawn said with a fearful look in her eyes as she slowly slipped out from behind Spike and stared across the room at Illyria, who still appeared to care less that she was being stared at.

"That's one way of putting it," Angel interjected with an uncomfortable frown on his face as he walked up to the pair, his hands jammed deep into his pockets and with Nina close at his side.

"Doesn't really matter though, however you put it Fred's gone and not coming back," Nina said sadly as she leaned up against Angel and looked over at Dawn.

"Did you know Fred well," Dawn asked softly with an innocent look on her face as she was genuinely interested about the history of a woman that most of Angel and his friends missed terribly and sounded like someone she could have been great friends with.

"Not really, but when I first found out that I was a werewolf she was nice to me, she didn't treat me like a monster," Nina started to say with a happy look of nostalgia on her face as she was remembering happy memories before Angel jumped in.

"And I treated you like a monster," Angel interjected with a surprised and hurt pout on his face as he pulled back slightly away from Nina and furrowed his brows heavily at her.

"Oh shut up ya big baby, no you didn't treat me like a monster, you tried to help me understand that it didn't mean that I was a monster but that there was a part of me that was dangerous and I didn't have to be scared of it and wasn't alone in fighting it," Nina replied with a sarcastic air kiss Angel's way at first before she grew more serious and wrapped her arms around Angel like he was a giant teddy bear.

"Eww…spare me," Dawn joked with an overly grossed out look on her face as she charmingly recoiled in revulsion at the sight of Angel and Nina cuddling together before she couldn't help but laugh.

"Is there something amusing," Illyria asked with a very calm look on her face and without looking up in the slightest while turning another page.

"Nope Blue, nothing amusing at all, you must have heard wrong," Spike said without the slightest hint of emotion in his voice as he slid his hands into his pockets and leaned back up against the doorway.

"I do not believe so, you are mistaken, there was laughter," Illyria said back with a very calm but yet also very serious look on her face as once more she didn't take her gaze from the book that she was looking through.

"You're right Illyria, there was laughter, but before we go any further there's something that we have to get crystal clear, Wesley is with Faith now…surprising as it may be but that's the way it is and I'll be damned…again, if I let you screw that bit of happiness up for either one of them, so for you and everyone else around here from now on you will not be known as Illyria but instead as Jamie, your new shell, is that clear," Angel interjected with a very grim and serious expression on his face as he pulled away from Nina and walked straight towards Illyria, making sure that she knew that he meant business.

"My grief for him has not yet fully subsided, but if he is happy then I will abide by this request, but only until the threat is eliminated, then I will not be bound by you any longer…vampire," Illyria replied softly with a humbled but yet equally serious scowl on her face as she momentarily glanced up at Angel before she set the book down, stood up, and then walked out of the library and into the cool English night just as Wesley and Faith walked in, looking like they had earlier when they had talked to Dawn in the kitchen.

"Everything okay," Faith asked with a concerned look on her face as Dawn noticed that her hair looked much softer and bouncier than it had earlier in the day as Wesley walked in and sat down in the seat that Illyria had just recently vacated.

"Can the answer to that wait until after Gwen and Groo and the others get back because right now they're our only hope," Angel asked back with a worried smile on his face before a proud and triumphant Katy waltzed into the library.

"Everybody can relax, we found the location for the spell, we're going to make it," Katy announced with a very proud grin on her face as she took the talisman out of her pocket and set it back down on the top of the nearest table.

END OF CHAPTER 27


	28. What, I Thought You Knew

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Michelle, Katy, and Morgan.**

**Author's Note: Thanks to everybody for reading the story, I just have one problem, who to pair Katy up with. So should I pair her up with someone or leave her single for the sequel to the story and have her leave with one of the various groups and go from there. Also there are a few surprises left…and a few deaths…**

**CHAPTER 28-WHAT, I THOUGHT YOU KNEW**

"Great," Nina exclaimed with an excited smile on her face as she fought the urge to squeal with joy while turning and tightly hugging Angel.

"Where was it," Willow asked with a relieved smile on her face as she walked into the room and over to where the talisman lay.

"Some club called Shahid Imzadi," Morgan replied with a tired yawn, and Connor's arm around her waist, as the two slowly walked in behind Katy.

"The name doesn't ring a bell, it must be new," Spike added with a serious look on his face as he turned to Angel and waited for Angel to speak.

"It doesn't matter Spike, all that matters is that we've found the location for the spell and tomorrow night this all ends," Angel said with a very determined look on his face as he slid one arm around Nina's waist and held her close.

"Speaking of which, I think that it they're going to help us that Morgan and Katy at least get a little training in, otherwise they'll be of little use to us, you to Nina," Faith interjected with a slightly nervous but yet serious expression on her face as she took a few steps towards Angel. At first Nina stared across the room at Faith with an expression on her face that seemed to suggest that she thought that the slayer had lost her mind, but then her countenance changed and she began to see the wisdom of Faith's words.

"What good would that do, despite me being a slayer with the extra healing and all my shoulder's still all fucked up," Morgan grumbled with a confused look on her face as she turned first to Connor and then over to Faith.

"It's a good idea Faith, even if you can't use both arms Morgan you can still learn how to properly defend yourself, something that you don't have to be at one hundred percent to do well, start tonight, just show them the basics, if all goes well that's all they'll need," Angel said with a tired and serious look on his face as he slowly nodded his head and glanced over at Faith, who smile and nodded her head before she and Wesley started the trek back up to their room to get changed.

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The night passed uneventfully, with David wanting to throw a big party over the fact that they had finally found the location for the spell, but Angel had quickly nixed that. Faith and Wesley had trained Katy, Morgan, and Nina as best they could in the short time and the trio didn't get done and into bed until almost four in the morning. By the time it was over Wesley was in need of Faith's help to get him back up the stairs and through a shower before the two climbed into bed. Angel had held back a laugh when Nina had come into their room claiming that her entire body hurt. After that Angel had helped her through a quick shower and then into bed, telling her that everything was going to turn out just fine. No one in the house woke up before ten in the morning, not something that was planned but Willow had spent most of the night putting the finishing touches on her spell and so was found by Spike, passed out in her chair in the library with a bit of drool dangling down onto the book that she was researching, when he came downstairs for a late breakfast.

"Time to rise and shine Red," Spike whispered softly at first before he raised the volume of his voice as he gently nudged Willow's shoulder.

"Mm…not yet Kennedy, it's to early and I'm to tired," Willow mumbled softly in her sleep as she waved her hand around a bit, as if trying to push someone away.

"Sorry luv, but I'm not that bitch Kennedy and we've got a big day ahead of us," Spike whispered back with a sly smirk on his face as he walked around the desk and gently pulled Willow back up into a seated position.

"Wha…oh Spike, what are you," Willow started to mumble with a tired look on her face before her eyes snapped open and she stared straight ahead at Spike.

"It's past ten in the morning Red, you fell asleep," Spike said back with a hint of a joking smirk playing on his lips as he walked over to the nearest open chair, one that was out of the rays of direct sunlight that silently filtered into the room, and sat down.

"Oh no…the spell, I have to get it ready," Willow suddenly exclaimed with a very frantic look on her face as she began to fumble around with the various pieces of paper on the desk in front of her before she found the one that she was looking for and took a deep sigh of relief.

"Looks like it's ready, want some breakfast, can't say that I'm to good of a cook but," Spike offered up with a calm and relaxed expression on his face as he nodded his head towards the kitchen just as Willow felt a rumbling in her stomach.

"Only if you let me ask you something, and when I do you have to give me an honest answer," Willow replied with a serious but yet soft look on her face as she slowly stood up but never broke contact with Spike's gaze.

"Fine," Spike said with a useless intake of air as he shrugged his shoulders and stood up, holding the kitchen door open for Willow as she smiled in thanks and walked in past him.

"Do you love Buffy," Willow asked with an awkward smile on her face as Spike opened the refrigerator door and she turned the stove on. Spike stayed still for a couple of moments before he replied.

"That's what you wanted to ask me Red, I thought that we had already…," Spike started to say back after that time as he leaned back away from the refrigerator but was stopped when Willow hurried to his side.

"I want you to stop kidding around and tell me straight, do you love Buffy," Willow stated with a very clear and confidant look on her face and in her eyes as Spike knew that he couldn't lie to her, not this time.

"Yes," Spike solemnly admitted with a quick glance into Willow's eyes before he leaned back into the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs and two bottles of beer.

"Good, then when this is all over the two of you can give your relationship another go, and don't worry about Xander, I'll take care of him," Willow said with an excited smile on her face as she took the eggs from Spike and had turned around before Spike could even fully register what she had said to him.

"It's not like that Red, she's with the Immortal now and I don't know if," Spike started to say with an unsure tone to his voice as he made his way over to the stove as Willow set the eggs down on the counter beside it and began to search for the skillet.

"She doesn't love him Spike, not like she loved…loves you, before we came here to London she said…no, she admitted that had you made it through the destruction of Sunnydale that she was willing to give you and her another try," Willow interjected with a very sincere expression on her face as she turned away from the cupboards long enough to lay a hand on Spike's shoulder and give it a small squeeze.

"But she…," Spike started to protest with a confused but yet elated smile on his face as he looked away and tried to busy himself with some inane task that usually he'd rather do anything than taking up.

"Is a complete idiot when it comes to love, but then again so are you…any idea where the skillet is," Willow interrupted with a carefree expression on her face as she pulled back and continued to search through the cupboards looking for the skillet.

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"I don't remember ever hurting this bad," Morgan moaned with a pained scowl on her face as she sat down on one of the couches in the reading room of the mansion.

"Me either," Katy added with a tired yawn as she walked by, doing her best to try and rub the soreness out of her muscles. The previous night of training hadn't hit her as hard as it had Morgan, as due to her job Katy had done her best to stay in as good of shape as possible, which mostly meant that she ate well and spent most of her day either dancing at the club or working out. After that afternoon at the club she had gotten away from her usual training regime but had sworn that after this was over that she would get back to it faithfully.

"Faith and Wesley are good teachers though," Connor said with a respectful smile on his face as he gently brushed a lock of Morgan's hair back behind her ear.

"Says you, you're used to all of that training but I'm not, up until about a week ago I had a good life, dancing at the club during my shift and then having the rest of the time to myself, didn't have to worry about demons and vampires and," Katy shot back with a tired an weary pout on her face as she flopped down onto the love seat and let an arm and a leg lazily drape over the edge.

"Dancing," Connor asked with an innocently confused frown on his face as he looked over first to Katy, who snickered a bit and cast Morgan a quick glance, before he turned back to his girlfriend, hoping that she would give him the answer.

"Katy was a…," Morgan started to say with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face as she wracked her brain in an attempt to figure out how to explain Katy's former job to Connor.

"I was an exotic dancer, a stripper, I took all of my clothes off for money, swung around on a pole, and got the customers all excited…both the men and the women," Katy finally replied back as she stepped in and recited her job description to Connor as if she had done it a million time, chuckling healthily at the sight of Connor's eyes growing wide and then shrinking into very confused slits.

"It wasn't the most…desirable job, but it paid the rent…right Katy," Michelle interjected with a very serious and almost condescending scowl on her face as she limped into the room and glared down at Katy, whose shirt had ridden up high enough to almost uncover a slip of her bra.

"Uh….yeah, right," Katy started to say with a giggling sigh before she looked up and saw Michelle angrily gazing down at her and she shot up into a seated position as quickly as she could and pulled her shirt down and tried to look innocent.

"Does my father know about this," Connor asked with a frustrated scowl on his face as he shook his head and then ran both of his hands through his hair in a nervous habit.

"I think so, actually I think that he might have caught one of my shows once, when he was out looking for Spike, I think that they sat in the back of the club…cheapskates, didn't tip worth shit…I mean crap," Katy said back lazily with a tired smile on her face as she shrugged her shoulders and stared up at the ceiling while crossing her legs before she cringed as she swore, imagining the scowl on Michelle's face and the scolding that was on the tip of her tongue.

"I don't believe this," Connor mumbled with a defeated and very confused pout on his face as he leaned back in his seat and stared down at the floor, intentionally avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

"Don't believe what," Dawn asked with a sleepy yawn as she walked into the room and sat down on the couch beside Connor and Morgan.

"Nothing," Connor, Katy, and Morgan said in unison before each realized that fact and looked away, their faces all flushed a bright red and Dawn looked on in confusion.

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They stared at the maps so intently that Nina wondered what they could possibly be thinking. Angel had picked up a map of the section of London that the club was located in and had been tracing several lines on it with his finger while Spike flipped through the sewers plans for half the city. At first she had tried to help them out with the maps but she had once not given Angel the correct map fast enough and he had growled at her. But even though it was clearly a vampiric growl she was positive that it was more the result of the pressure that he was under than his actual feelings towards her.

"Is it to late to say that unless everything goes exactly to plan…we're screwed," Spike said with an overwhelmed frown on his face as he dropped the maps that he had been looking through back onto the top of the table and shook his head.

"It'll work Spike…it has to," Angel answered back, very confidently at first before adding the last bit under his breath.

"But what if it doesn't…what then," Nina asked with a scared look on her face as she laid a hand on Angel's arm and hoped that he would be straight with her.

"Then…well then Nina…," Angel softly replied with a very serious and concerned look on his face before he grew silently, seemingly lost as to what exactly to say next.

"We're screwed," Spike finished with a sly smirk on his face as he looked up from the maps that he had one again picked up.

"Not yet we're not, you shouldn't be so negative Spike, the plan is going to work, the spell is going to work, we're all going to live through this," Willow interjected with a calm but yet very serious and commanding expression on her face and tone to her voice as she walked into the room and sat down beside Spike, patting him on the shoulder at the end.

"So says the lovely young witch that skinned a man alive and nearly ended the world all by her self," Spike shot back with a humorous look of joking on his face as Willow was able to tell by his tone that he did not mean the words in a mocking or hurtful way. Willow was about to leave it at that but changed her mind when she caught the surprised and scared look on Nina's face.

"I only skinned one person…but he deserved it…I'm…Nina…I'm joking, relax, I'm over that, I'm not going to hurt anyone," Willow stammered out in between confused looks from Nina before she was finally able to get her point across and the blonde woman was able to calm down.

"Well now that we've all had our fun…how's the spell," Angel asked with a less than thrilled scowl on his face as he looked up from his maps and over at Willow.

"It's finished Angel, just get me to that club as dusk and I'll take care of the rest…but here's the most important part, it's going to take a great amount of energy to totally power this spell, someone's going to have to die for this spell to work," Willow answered with a happy smile on her face at first before it changed to a very serious and then almost scared expression.

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"So what are you going to wear tonight," Faith asked softly as she walked back into the living room after her shower, wearing nothing but the medallion and doing her best to dry her hair.

"Thought that I might go with the creature of the night look, perhaps it'll help me to blend into the shadows where I won't be noticed as quickly," Wesley replied with a deep breath as he pulled open the top dresser and began to casually make his way through Faith's underwear, looking for something that he liked.

"Not sure if that's the look for you Wes, after all…you're still alive," Faith said with a slightly impish smirk on her face as she stopped at the bed, hiked one foot up onto the bed and began to dry that leg off while watching Wesley out of the corner of her eye.

"Thanks to you and Willow, but seriously in my current condition the element of surprise would be preferable to being pegged by everything and everyone from the very beginning," Wesley said with a sharp intake of breath as Faith switched legs.

"Well if this all goes well then you won't have to worry about that, hopefully we can keep the number of fatalities to a minimum," Faith said back with an oddly concerned look on her face as she slid her foot off of the bed and walked over to stand beside Wesley, who was holding up a bra and panty combo that had less cloth than would fit into a thimble. "I am not wearing that," Faith said with a skeptical smile on her face as she glanced up at Wesley before he shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll save it for later then, but what's this…has the hell raiser of old become an old softy, wanting to keep the number of fatalities to a minimum," Wesley replied with a hurt pout on his face at first before his face broke into a cheeky smile as he set the pieces of lingerie back into the drawer and looked for some more.

"Hardly…it's just that I've seen to much needless death lately, and I don't want to see anymore than I have to," Faith answered with a very serious and sad look on her face before she couldn't look up at Wesley any longer and she dropped her gaze down to a scratch on the back of one of her knuckles.

"We'll be fine Faith, Angel has a good plan…here, I think that these will work quite nicely," Wesley said back with a reassuring tone to his voice as he pulled her into a one armed hug and then handed her his selection.

"These look like something that…they'll work," Faith started to object with her usual amount of sarcasm before she bit her bottom lip in consternation and finally shrugged her shoulders and gave in, tossing the towel over Wesley's shoulder and then slipping the panties on.

"Did you know that Angel is going to allow David to come with us tonight," Wesley asked with a wondering raising of his eyebrow as he turned on his heel and started to make his way towards the bathroom, unbuttoning his fly as he went. Faith was in the middle of slipping her bra on when he said that and she stopped momentarily before continuing.

"You're joking right," Faith said back with a surprised and highly skeptical smile on her face as she almost laughed at the thought before Wesley slid his jeans off and tossed them into the hamper before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Not this time, Angel said that David's been wanting to really help him ever since we helped him back in LA, so tonight he's finally going to get his chance," Wesley replied with a nervous grin on his face as he laid a towel on the side of the sink and stepped into the shower as Faith walked into the doorway, crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned up against the door, grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice In Wonderland. "What are you doing," Wesley asked with an unsure smile on his face as he stepped into the shower and turned the water on.

"What's it look like I'm doing…I'm watching, and doing my best not to join you," Faith answered with a sexy grin on her face as she kept her gaze locked onto Wesley, not saying but instead thinking the last part as she struggled against herself to stay where she was and not get all sudsy with the man that she loved, with the battle for everything a mere two hours away.

END OF CHAPTER 28


	29. A Familiar Tune

CONSEQUENCES

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 29-A FAMILIAR TUNE**

They assembled their small force in the parking lot of David's mansion. Spike, Angel, and Gwen were chosen as the three-team captains. Dawn and Willow got into one car with Spike while Nina, Connor, Morgan, and Michelle got into the van with Angel and Katy and David hopped into the back seat of the third car with Wesley driving and Faith riding shotgun. Groo and Gwen swung their legs over the Harley and were the first two to leave the parking. Angel had given everyone his last minute pep talk before they had entered the parking lot and so further words were unnecessary. The entire group was decked out like they were going to audition for a part in the next Mission Impossible movie, all clad in black from head to toe with Angel and Spike wearing their usual dusters and everyone was armed to the teeth, even David who had only recently bought a rather odd looking shotgun at a gun show and wanted to try it out. Wesley had tried to get him to change to a crossbow but had finally given up when the millionaire had marked a dark line under each of his eyes and grinned back at him like a child waiting for Christmas morning.

"Guess this is it," Katy said with a nervous look on her face as she did her best to not appear nervous.

"Yep," Faith calmly said back from the front seat as she lazily sat in her seat and stared out of the window.

"This is so cool," David added with an eager and excited grin on his face as he looked like he was on a sugar high, something that was not entirely an impossibility.

"Oh yeah…it's cool now, but just wait until the real fun starts, then it won't be so much fun, trust me David, after tonight you will never be the same," Wesley countered with a very serious and grim expression on his face as he glanced back at David in the rearview mirror.

"Way to instill confidence in the troops there," Katy mumbled with now a scared look on her face as she bit her bottom lip and began to slowly spin the sword in her hands around on its point, glad that it was now dark as her face could be hidden by the shadows. She had pulled her hair up and back into a tight ponytail and just hoped that she was ready for the fight that was to come.

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"How long till we get there," Morgan asked with a scared expression on her face as she lightly rubbed the pad of her left index finger over the point of the bolt of her crossbow, before unintentionally pricking it and drawing blood.

"Not to long, unless we meet heavy traffic or our diversion kicks off a bit early," Angel replied with a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach as Morgan hissed in pain and stuck her cut fingertip in her mouth.

"In that case we're probably going to have to fight our way through," Connor stated with an almost hopeful expression on his face as he studied the passing city sidewalks and streets, searching them for any signs of the two parties that Angel had invited to the party.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that Connor," Nina said with a worried look on her face as she was trying to both convince Connor and herself that fighting their way to the club would not be necessary.

"So then what happens if the club is open for business and a fight breaks out, the authorities would be swarming all over the place, we wouldn't even be able to get close," Michelle asked with a scared and very nervous expression on her face as she set about readjusting her seatbelt.

"If that happens Michelle then we'll clear the people out of there however we can, if that means Spike and I vamping out and Willow putting on a magic show then that's what we'll do," Angel answered with a serious look on his face as he slowed the van down before turning the corner.

"What was the cue again," Morgan wondered with a meek smile on her face as she expected everyone to be angry that she had forgotten the all in cue that Angel was to give at just the right moment.

"Well it…just follow Morgan and Connor, when they move, follow them," Nina answered with an anxious expression on her face as she turned and looked back over her shoulder at the young slayer before she hurried to finish the answer, not wanting to admit that she herself wasn't completely convinced that she remembered what the cue was exactly either.

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"If all goes well Red, a few hours from now you can tell Buffy everything, and hopefully we can straighten this mess out," Spike said with only a slight hint of emotion in his voice as he hesitated to turn on the radio.

"The operative word there being we Spike, Buffy will be mad at you…all three of us, but I think that once we get a chance to really talk to her about all of this she'll come around, probably be pretty angry at Giles to, not sure what Xander will do," Willow replied with an almost stern tone to her voice as she turned to Spike and by her posture made it clear that he heard and understood every word that she said.

"Knowing him he'll probably find some way to blame all of this on Spike and Angel," Dawn added from the back seat with a sarcastic grin on her face as she slowly turned her wrist, her gaze completely fixed on how the light bounced off the knife in her hand.

"Exactly, which is why the first thing that I'm going to do when this is over is cast a spell on him that'll render him completely unable to speak, and I won't take it off until I'm good and ready," Willow said with a snicker and a grin as she looked back into the backseat at Dawn and all of her spell supplies.

"Can I watch," Spike asked softly under his breath with a sly grin on his face as he lightly leaned over in Willow's direction.

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"They've been spotted," Robin announced with a triumphant but yet serious scowl on his face as he rushed into the room, purposefully avoiding a look in Lorne's direction.

"What…where," Buffy asked with a start as she instantly sat upright in her chair and pushed the newspaper away.

"They were headed towards an area that is known for its nightclubs, we need to hurry if we're going to be able to stop whatever plan they have," Robin said back with a hurried look on his face as Buffy noticed that he was no longer dressed like a principal but instead like a commando, like a former boyfriend of hers.

"What about the reports of vampire sightings all over the city," Buffy asked with a concerned look on her face as she stood up and turned to face Robin.

"Don't worry, my people are doing their best to contain that threat, we believe that it is only a diversion, with it Angelus hopes to keep our forces occupied while he carries out his plan," Robin said back with an anxious and very angry at Angel scowl on his face as he checks his watch before being interrupted by Lorne.

"Nice sea of hatred there big guy…however you're wrong on one small little minute point, it's Angel…not Angelus, he still has his soul, both of them do," Lorne snapped back with a fed up expression on his face as he stood up and stepped in between Buffy and Robin.

"Out of my way demon, this does not concern you," Robin sneered back with murder in his eyes as he tried to push Lorne out of the way before Lorne spoke up.

"This doesn't concern me he says…does this mean that I got every little demon's wish to be a real boy…hmm nope, horns still there, and the olive complexion…guess I'm still a demon," Lorne said with a very sarcastic scowl on his face before he couldn't help but let a sinister grin sneak onto his face as he saw the effect that his words were having on the son of a slayer.

"That you are, now if you'll excuse me I have to stop your kind from destroying the world," Robin said back with a barely restrained look of anger on his face as he sized Lorne up before brushing him aside and storming out of the room.

"I will get Xander and the potentials ready Buffy, hopefully whatever is happening will only last the night and then everything will be okay tomorrow," Giles said with a grimly optimistic frown on his face as he patted Buffy lightly on the shoulder and headed for the door.

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"We're here," Spike said with a nervous smile on his face as he parked the car across the street from the club and shut the engine off.

"Kind of reminds me of The Bronze," Willow said with a sad look of nostalgia on her face as her memory tripped back to some of the good times that she had experienced at the club that no longer existed.

"Yeah…though it's a whole lot bigger, kind of like The Bronze's big brother or sister," Dawn added with a slightly cheesy smirk on her face as she followed Willow out of the car and handed her the spell supplies.

"Now everyone remember where we parked," Spike joked with a sly grin on his face before he hid his sword beneath the folds of his new duster and walked with Dawn and Willow across the street and to the small area behind the club.

"You're late," Angel said with an unhappy scowl on his face as he glared at Spike, who just shrugged his shoulders and looked as if he could care less.

"The club looks pretty full, that's not good," Morgan said with a worried look on her face as she hunched her shoulders up a bit and shivered from the cold.

"Don't worry, it won't be for much longer, and then we can get started," Faith replied with more an anxious than nervous expression on her face as she poked at an empty beer can with the tip of her sword.

"And just how is that supposed to happen, we can't just go in there like a bunch of crazy people and force them out," Michelle wondered with a very pointed and scared expression on her face as she glared over at Faith.

"It won't come to that, once the diversion starts up they'll close the club down and that'll be our cue to move in and cast the spell, hopefully we'll be able to do it all without any of the authorities being the wiser," Wesley answered with a very serious look on his face as he turned away from what Faith was doing to look in Michelle's general direction while he casually ran his hands over the handles of the two 45's that he had hidden underneath his long coat along with the two sawn off shotguns that were cleverly concealed.

"So when is this diversion going to…," Nina started to ask with a cold shiver before a large explosion rocked the city, appearing to be centered many miles away.

"What was that," Dawn asked with a scared look on her face as she unintentionally clung to one of the sleeves of Spikes duster.

"Our diversion Bit, don't worry, we made sure that we placed the charges in unoccupied buildings, ones that no one of any significance had been in for several weeks, the vampires and The Initiative will handle the rest of the diversion," Spike said with a reassuring and confidant tone to his voice as he turned to Dawn and gave her a one armed hug for good measure.

"The Initiative, but what are they…," Willow asked with a completely surprised and confused look on her face as she quickly turned back to Angel and hoped that she had heard wrong.

"They're one part of the diversion that'll hopefully keep the heat off of us until you finish the spell, if all goes according to plan they'll be to busy fighting the legions of vampires that I coaxed into coming to London, we'll slip away in the confusion," Angel replied with an easy and calm expression on his face as he walked over to the padlocked back door of the club and ripped the lock off.

"And when were you going to tell all of us about that," Dawn wondered aloud with a look on her face that instantly reminded Angel of one of the many looks that Buffy had given him when she wasn't happy that he hadn't told her everything.

"When this is over…provided that we both live," Spike answered for Angel with an amused smirk on his face as he kindly pushed Dawn in the direction of the clubs back door that Angel had just opened.

"Can't you just feel the love," Katy cracked with a sly grin on her face before she noticed that David was ogling her but trying not to be too obvious about it. Her first thought was to be angry, but then she mentally went over what she had decided to wear and had to admit that perhaps she should have chosen some other attire. She had dressed up to the hilt, or at least how she had always dreamed of dressing if she had super powers. Her leather pants looked to be painted on, enhancing every curve of her body and being cut low they barely hovered high enough on her hips to keep her modesty in check while still allowing her thong to show. For her top she had scrounged around until she had found a combination vest and bustier that reminder her of the outfit that her favorite video game heroine, Rayne, wore in her game, except that Katy's top was much smaller, tighter, and showed off a lot more. To get out of the mansion with Michelle or someone else not making her change she had pulled on one of the black leather jackets that had been hanging in Faith's closet. She had found a couple of hard leather gauntlet's in a room in the basement that she had left in a hurry the second that she had found them, especially after seeing the various instruments, masks, and whips lying around the room. She had slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves that had sharp edges on the top of each knuckle and she had pulled her hair up into a tight bun. Instead of slipping on a comfortable pair of shoes she had gone for a pair of semi high-heeled boots. All in all she knew that she looked more like she was ready to star in some middle school boy's fantasy than fight the forces of darkness but once she had started she hadn't been able to stop.

"Uh…huh," David mumbled out in awe as he almost started to drool at the sight of Katy before he was shaken out of his trance by Connor as he grabbed his sleeve and shoved him at the door.

"You're dressed a little…slutty, looking to get some action in between dustings," Gwen said with a sly smile on her face as she trailed a finger over Katy's shoulder as she swept her gaze over the new slayer.

"So I went a little overboard, it's my first time," Katy said back softly as she went on the defensive and zipped up the jacket as she backed away from Gwen.

"Bet you say that to all the boys," Gwen added with a slightly vindictive snicker under her breath before she pulled her gloves off and headed inside, leaving Katy to fume at her back.

"Do not let her get to you Katy, she becomes quite…," Groo started to say with a reassuring and supportive tone to his voice as he lightly patted Katy on the shoulder before she cut in.

"Bitchy," Katy interjected with a sarcastic expression on her face as she slowly nodded her head and then took one deep breath and hurried off into the club.

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Buffy and her contingent found the club easily enough, mostly because they had been following Angel for several miles. Xander, Giles, and Buffy had all climbed into a small car that Robin had provided for them while he insisted on taking Lorne and the rest of the potentials with him in his vans. Along with them he had brought along a squad of Initiative soldiers, saying that they needed to be prepared for anything that Angel could possibly throw at them. Giles had wanted to wait and decide on the best course of action before advancing on Angel's position but he had been overruled.

"I don't like this Giles, this is all to public," Buffy said with a nervous and anxious expression on her face as she got out of the car and turned to Giles.

"I agree, this does not seem like Angel's usual style," Giles replied with a concerned and serious look on his face as he helped Vi out of the car.

"So what, maybe he decided to turn over a new leaf, you know kidnap Willow and Dawn, summon a few giant demons, and then slaughter a hole club full of people," Xander interjected with a half joking and half mocking smirk on his face as he took the sword that Rhona handed him as she got out of the van.

"How did Angel not kill you before he left Sunnydale," Lorne said with an amazed expression on his face as he sighed and shook his head while getting out of the van.

"Huh," Xander mumbled with a surprised and confused tone to his voice as he stood still and looked in Lorne's direction.

"Okay demon, here's how it's going to work, we're going to go in there and neutralize Angelus by whatever means necessary, you're going to go in there ahead of us so that if he tries anything then you'll die instead of me," Robin said with a very serious scowl on his face as he grabbed a tight grip of Lorne's collar and shoved him forward.

"Hey man, easy on the threads, they may be a bit dowdy at the moment but that's still no excuse," Lorne shot back with a defensive and almost whining tone to his voice as he jerked away from Robin's iron grasp just long enough to straighten his collar and glare at the former principal.

"None of this is getting us anywhere, Willow's in there so I'm going to go and find her, if any of you want to come with me then great, otherwise I'll go alone," Kennedy announced with a very determined frown on her face as she slid a knife into her boot and took a step towards the club.

"Hold your horses Kennedy, none of us is going in there alone and we are not using Lorne as a shield, I don't pretend to know or understand everything that's happening here at this club and in this city tonight, but I do have a very strong feeling that we don't know the whole story, we're missing something…something important," Buffy said with a very commanding tone of voice as she physically got in front of Kennedy and stopped her from storming into the club and also pulled Lorne away from Robin.

"This isn't Sunnydale Buffy, you're not in charge here anymore," Robin snapped back with a very threatening tone of voice as he took a step towards Buffy but was stopped by Giles, who looked ready to defend his slayer against anything that the Initiative could possibly throw at her.

"If you lay one hand on her I swear that come tomorrow you will be minus one appendage," Giles said with a very stern scowl on his face as he glared straight back at the son of a slayer.

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He glanced through the crowd slowly, doing his best to appear to be just another teen or young adult out on the town for a good time. He kept to the fringe's of the club as he made his rounds, getting a layout of the club down in his mind while noticing certain people that if needed could be used to his advantage, whether to spook and get the masses moving out of the club or those that looked like they could hold their own in a fight. Several beautiful women smiled and winked in his direction, some of them looking like they were barely old enough to be in middle school while others looked as if they had forgotten most of their clothes at home. Snatching a drink away from an unsuspecting bartender Spike downed it in one gulp and tossed the glass to the side, smirking a bit when the glass shattered on the stone floor. He checked the location of the bar, the band, and the doors before he saw her. She seemed to waft into the club like she was on a cloud, completely effortlessly but terrified all at the same time. He started to smile at how beautiful she looked but his countenance hardened instantly when he caught sight of the former principal. Lifting his gaze up to the second level he made quick eye contact with Angel, who set his jaw and then nodded his head before giving Nina a quick kiss and then disappearing into the crowd. Nina looked like she was about ready to tear up but then hardened and followed Angel's lead, disappearing into the crowd as well.

"This is it huh, no chance to back out now, you think we're ready," A nervous Katy asked through a smile as she unzipped her coat and used it to fan herself in an attempt to cool off as it was more than warm in the club and she was already sweating heavily, and putting off enough pheromones to turn Spike on.

"Easy luv, yeah this is it…the big show, the song and dance, the horse and pony show, everything counts now, and you should probably take that jacket off before you pass out," Spike said back with an eerily calm expression on his face and tone to his voice as he looked away from Katy as she took her coat off and got several stares from those dancing nearby, both the men and the women. Spike initially lost Buffy in the crowd but quickly found her again as he noticed her group starting to spread out, obviously in the hopes of finding Angel. "I think that it's about time that we got things started, now try to be a good girl and don't die," Spike said with a useless deep breath before he mock bowed to Katy and disappeared into the crowd as she tried to calm her breathing, which at the moment came in big gulps that only seemed to cause more people to stare, as she grasped the hilt of her sword while hiding it with her coat.

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She entered the club slowly; still not sure that she was doing the right thing. Dancing going on all around her she was tempted to join in but kept still as she looked around for Angel and anyone else that she recognized. She hadn't gotten that far in when the current song ended and another started up. Her heart nearly stopped when the song began as familiar lyrics wafted out of the speakers, nearly bringing her to tears.

"I….did a stupid thing last night, I called you, a moment of weakness, no not a moment more like three moments of weakness. I'm one step away from crashin to my knees, one step away from spilling my guts to you…"

END OF CHAPTER 29

P.S.-Shahid Imzadi is a name made up of the names of two reviewers that used to review my Buffy and Angel stories, but since they're both mostly Buffy/Angel fans they don't read my stuff anymore, but I thought that I'd be nice and use their names.

As for Katy her outfit was an attempt to mimic the outfit of the videogame heroine Rayne's outfit from the games Bloodrayne 1 and 2. She's basically a half human, half vampire that kills other vampires. David's ogling her isn't out of character for him imho given that when he first met Angel he was in trouble for getting photographed sleeping with demon women, some of whom we later saw when Angel went to help him, and they were definitely different. As for who I'm going to pair Katy up with I might leave her single and then include her in the sequel along with Wes and Faith, that is if they can stay out of the bedroom…had a crazy idea of the three together…but that's just crazy talk, although maybe if they all got drunk enough…jk, maybe. Anyone have an idea what I should call the sequel that I'll write after this is over and at the same time as the sequel to Second Chances and Three Strikes called You're Out, I haven't decided on a title for it yet.


	30. Tender Mercies

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 30-TENDER MERCIES**

Willow couldn't help but smile as the song started, remembering first trying to study with Buffy before Xander had interrupted, begging them to come and dance with him. They had reluctantly agreed and so the events of that night, the first night that they ever met Spike, had been thrown into motion. She knew immediately who had requested the song and why. Despite his sometimes brisk and uncaring exterior she had come to know very well that Spike was an insane romantic at heart, whether his was beating or not. He had taken an almost instant liking to Dawn and until that night with Buffy in the bathroom had served as almost her older brother. With the deepest of sincerities Willow hoped that after the battle was over and that the spell was cast and Wolfram and Hart had lost this particular battle that Spike could be Dawn's big brother again, and for herself someone to talk to about anything and get an honest answer.

"Is this spot okay," Michelle asked with a timid and out of place look on her face as Willow could easily tell that the young slayer had not spent much time in clubs before becoming a slayer. In truth Michelle reminded Willow a lot of herself when she was younger, minus of course the whole being a slayer.

"It'll do, good job Michelle…really," Willow replied with a reassuring smile on her face as she nodded to Michelle and patted her on the shoulder.

"Thanks, so what's next," Michelle said back at first with a very happy smile on her face as she was close to tears before she settled down and started to unpack the spell supplies and laying them on two tables that she had pulled together.

"We try not to die," Willow answered with a nervously hopeful smile on her face as she shrugged her shoulders and then began to set up the spell.

"Is that them, down there beside that really fat guy," Morgan asked with a tense and anxious look on her face as she slid up next to Connor, who looked like he was having anything but a fun time, and gingerly looped her very sore arm around his waist.

"I think so, I've never seen pictures of any of them so I only know them by their descriptions," Connor replied back with a calm tone to his voice before he noticed which arm that Morgan had slid around his waist and he scowled at her until she pulled her arm back and took out the sling for it.

"I thought it might look dorky," Morgan said softly in her defense with a sad pout on her face as she maneuvered the sling back into place and slipped her arm into it before Connor leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"Well it doesn't, now stay here while I go and say hi," Connor said with a sly smile on his face before he got up, did his best to hide his sword do his pants, something that forced him to walk with one straight leg, as he made his way down the stairs. He ambled over to where he guessed that two of Buffy's group were standing. He had decided this after seeing the scared and nervous look on one of their faces while the other looked about ready to throw down with the first person that looked at her wrong. "You come here often," He asked the more scared of the two with the kindest and most innocent smile that he could muster, using an old line that he had heard in one of the few movies that he had seen. He knew that it was a lame attempt but his outlook brightened up a big when he saw the mystery scared girl smile and seem to relax a bit while the other girl seemed to be sizing him up to see if he was a threat or not.

"N…no, not…really," Vi replied softly with a timid and scared look on her face as she scrunched down in her chair a bit and glanced over at Rhona in an attempt to both keep from locking eyes with Connor and to see what the other slayer thought.

"Well then I think that I should show you around, it'd only be the nice thing to do," Connor said back with a pleased and kind smile on his face as he calmly and casually took Vi's hand and pulled her up to her feet.

"Vi…you sure about this, we don't even know this guy," Rhona said with a cautionary expression on her face as she also stood up and laid a hand on Vi's shoulder.

"You're right, you don't, perhaps then I should introduce myself," Connor started to say with a very apologetic tone to his voice before in one swift motion he yanked his sword free from its confinement, side kicked Rhona through a thin wall, and then smashed the hilt of his sword into an astonished Vi's jaw.

"Rhona," Kennedy yelled with a stunned look on her face before she swung into action and charged at Connor.

"Not a smart move," Connor shot back with a calm smile on his face before he began to easily dodge each and every one of Kennedy's punches and kicks.

"Kennedy's in trouble, we have to help her," Maria shouted in alarm before she hefted up her mace and hurried to defend her fellow slayer.

"No…Maria wait," Buffy started to shout with a worried look on her face as she started to go after Maria but stopped when she saw Connor use Maria's sudden interference in the battle to his advantage and the two slayers ended up violently colliding and crashing back into the nearby table.

"Buffy, it's him, it's Connor, Angel's son," Xander exclaimed with a very serious look of surprise and slight fear on his face as he took a step towards the fight but then stopped and stepped back behind Buffy.

"He's made the first move, alright men…move in and clear the premises," Robin loudly announced over an intercom before the music was abruptly shut off and the soldiers of the Initiative quickly emptied the club, leaving the large space bathed only in shadows.

"He's only one young boy, you didn't have to," Giles started to argue with an unhappy scowl on his face before Dawn walked out of the shadows and into the middle of the only spotlight left on.

"Buffy, please…stop this, you don't understand," Dawn started to interject with a scared and pleading look on her face as she looked at the end to be nearly at tears before Buffy cut her off.

"What I don't understand is how you could do this to me, just go and leave with Angel without telling me…without calling, I was worried sick about you," Buffy snapped back with an angry and greatly relieved expression on her face as she hurried forward to embrace her little sister.

"I'm sorry Buffy, but you have to let them cast the spell," Dawn started to say with a very earnest look on her face before she was cut off by Robin.

"We don't have to let them do anything Dawn, you hear me demon, no matter what evil spell you have planned we will not let you succeed, your fiendish plans end here tonight," Robin shouted out to the seemingly empty club as he took the safety off of his weapon and ordered the soldiers of the Initiative to secure the area.

"Heh…who says fiendish anymore, jackass," Katy mumbled under her breath with a sly grin on her face as she tossed her jacket back behind one of the speakers on the stage and then stepped out of the shadows.

"Stop right there," A soldier said to Connor as he lowered his weapon and pointed it straight at Connor's left temple, complete with the laser light leaving a small red dot hovering on the side of his head.

"I don't think so," Morgan growled with an angry sneer on her face as she took aim and then pulled the trigger, sending the bolt of her crossbow flying straight into the chest of the soldier that was aiming his gun at Connor. A second before her bolt struck him the soldier squeezed the trigger on his weapon and fired off a shot. Luckily having expected the soldier to shoot at anything Connor had been waiting for the right moment and when it came he dropped to the floor, going down so hard that he split open a nice gash on his chin in the process. Rhona climbed back through the hole in the wall and back into the large room just as the soldier fell over backwards with the crossbow bolt embedded in his chest.

"That's it, we wanted to keep this from getting out of hand, but now you've forced our hand monster," Robin shouted out, once again into the darkness, with a furious but eerily pleased scowl on his face before he was interrupted.

"I didn't force anything little man, you can say what you want but you never planned on anything but this, you wanted death, you wanted mayhem, you needed something to blame on me, to keep your own conscience clear," Angel argued with a calm and collected but yet very serious look on his face as he slowly walked out into the light on the second level, finally stopping at the top of the stairs that led down to where Robin was standing, gun at the ready.

"More lies from a master," Robin growled back with a completely unconvinced look on his face as he took aim with his gun, placing the crosshairs directly over Angel's heart.

"Robin no…wait…Angel, stop this…please," Buffy pleaded with a quickly overwhelmed look on her face as she hurried to Robin's side and looked up at Angel.

"Spare me Buffy, you could have changed this weeks ago, but now we have no choice but to be here…and now, and the spell will continue no matter what you say," Angel said back with a defiant expression on his face as he got to the bottom of the stairs and stared straight ahead into Robin's eyes.

"Look around Angel this is crazy, you're outnumbered, please think of your son and come along quietly," Giles offered up with a hopeful and nervous look on his face as he stepped in between several members of the Initiative and Angel.

"You are right this is crazy, however my father knows the risks and had you actually taken the time to…you would find that he was willing to do anything to save those that he loves," Connor interjected with a very serious look on his face as he slowly backs up towards another of the staircase's, being confronted by several of the crimson dawn soldiers.

"Do not listen to him, he only wishes to take everything that you hold dear," The Immortal stated with a very confidant and certain tone to his voice, as he seemed to materialize out of the darkness and glare straight at Angel. Angel was about to answer when what few lights there were went out and then screams echoed out from almost every corner of the club before the lights finally came back on and they found that all of the Initiative soldiers that had been holding everyone at bay moments before were now gone, with a literal amount of blood on the floor.

"What just happened," Katy asked with a scared and confused edge to her voice as she turned around and looked up at Angel, who did his best to remain calm and impassive, portraying an image of strength and resolve.

"I evened out the odds a bit," The Immortal answered finally from out of the silence before he turned to Buffy and smiled at her.

"In other words you killed every one of the Initiative soldiers that Mr. Wood brought along with him to swing the balance of power in his favor…really…I'm touched," Angel added with a sarcastic smirk on his face as he turned and fully faced The Immortal, doing his best to hold his anger in while hoping that his ace in the hole was fulfilling her end of the bargain.

"You bastard…," Robin snarled back at The Immortal with an absolutely furious expression on his face as he spun the aim of his weapon away from Angel and to The Immortal. He had only raised the sights of the weapon up to Angel's neck when his vision clouded and his life ended as his head was severed cleanly from his body after a bright flash of light.

"Oh God," Dawn exclaimed with a terrified and sickened look on her face as she crumpled to her knees and fought back the terrible urge to throw up, with Buffy immediately crouching down beside her, as first Robin's head rolled away from his body and then the rest of him crumpled to the ground, with blood spattering everyone close to him. Hidden deep in the shadows Faith's heart skipped a beat and she froze as her former lover's head rolled away from his body, but then the smell and heat from Wesley's body directly behind her calmed her nerves and slowed her breathing before she was able to manage a weak smile back at him as she could see it in his eyes that he was concerned about her.

"I'm okay," Faith softly whispered back to him with a very nervous and slightly skittish look on her face before Wesley reached out, gently cupping her cheek, and pulling her back into a meaningful kiss. They only stopped kissing when David lost his lunch into a backpack that someone left behind. Holding back their laughter Wesley interlocked the fingers of his left hand with the fingers on Faith's right hand and gave it a squeeze.

"What do you think you're doing," Giles started to exclaim with a shocked and furious scowl on his face before Angel surprised everyone by rushing forward and tackling Giles to the ground, just barely avoiding a flash of metal that would have beheaded him had it landed.

"Sabatin demons, the shit's really going to hit the fan now," Connor grumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face as he fell back up the steps until he got to Morgan and she ducked behind him while Rhona pulled a frightened Vi off of the main floor and Kennedy did her best to get to Buffy and keep her guard up.

"Why, why did you," Buffy demanded with an angry glare on her face as she wheeled around on her boyfriend, ready for anything.

"He was going to kill all of you, this way not everyone has to die, I'll be seeing you," The Immortal replied with an honest smile on his face before he turned and left, taking two sabatin demons with him as Angel and the others watched closely.

"You are disgrace to our ranks," An angry voice stated from out of the darkness, causing The Immortal to momentarily stop in his tracks.

"Who's there," The Immortal demanded with a look of little patience on his face as he turned around and searched the shadows in front of him.

"An old friend, it's been awhile, you look different than I remember you," Illyria said with a less than thrilled look on her face as she slowly walked out of the shadows and glared at The Immortal, tailored down to something that looked more similar to what she had worn onto the stage back at the Orange Crush.

"I'm sorry…you must have me mistaken with someone else, though if you give me your number I'll be sure to call you back Ms…," The Immortal said with at first a mocking grin on his face before he began to slowly walk around Illyria, checking out each and every angle and curve.

"Illyria," Illyria stated with much satisfaction before she surprised The Immortal, as his eyes grew wide at her name, by smashing her fist into his jaw, an act that sent him back through the nearest wall.

"We don't have to do this Angel, there has to be another way out of this," Buffy said with a hopeful look on her face as she stood up and turned away from Dawn.

"Sorry Buffy, but you're not going to stop me, the spell has to be cast to stop Wolfram and Hart, otherwise nothing that we do here matters," Angel said back with a very serious look on his face as he noticed that several more slayers had come into the club behind Buffy, looking to make the odds easily in her favor.

"I'm not going to let you bring any more demons to this world," Buffy countered with a look of great sincerity and fear on her face as she clenched her hands into fists and glanced over at Katy, who now stood with her sword at ready, hoping that the shit wasn't about to hit the fan.

"Those were an accident, they were never supposed to happen," Angel said with a very serious and regretful look on his face as he started to walk down the stairs but stopped on the middle step.

"But yet they did, tell me Angel, what is the price of the spell that you're going to cast now, what will you have to give up to accomplish this mission, are you really that stupid," Giles quickly cut in with an accusing edge to his voice as he stepped forward and aimed his crossbow at Angel's heart.

"Sod off Rupert," Wesley announced with a very bitter sneer on his face as he walked out of the shadows and onto the second step down from the top, one of his pistols aimed directly at Giles' head. The floor nearly fell out of Buffy's world at the sight of Wesley. Not because she had any special connection with Wesley but because for the last several days she knew him to be dead, very dead, but yet now here he was standing not fifty yards away from her pointing a gun at the forehead of her watcher.

"Bringing people back from the dead Angel, that's risky business," Giles debated with a very stern and disapproving expression on his face as he looked back and forth between Wesley and Angel.

"Through the greatest risk comes the greatest rewards though G," Faith said with a skeptical frown on her face, one that quickly changed into a grin as she stepped up into the light beside Wesley. Before anyone could acknowledge her being there she turned to Wesley and pulled him down into a kiss that left everyone speechless, if only for a short time.

"Faith, what are you…," Buffy started to ask with a bewildered look on her face as she scratched her head and helped Dawn back up to her feet.

"Evening out the odds a bit B," Faith answered over her shoulder with a sly grin on her face as she still had both arms wrapped tightly around Wesley's neck.

"This is stupid, we outnumber you three to one Angel, surrender now and we'll talk about all of this, surely together we can come up with a way out of this, one that doesn't result in," Giles started to explain with a very serious and almost condescending frown on his face as he took a step forward towards Angel before he was interrupted by Katy.

"That's far enough old man," Katy declared with a very serious look on her face as she stepped in front of Giles and stopped him in his tracks by placing the point of her sword just underneath his chin and looking ready to skewer him at a moments notice.

"Get that out of my face, this isn't a game," Giles said with a rather stern and scornful scowl cast Katy's way as he reached up and pushed the point of her sword away from his throat.

"Damn right it ain't," Katy shot back with a very serious and determined scowl on her face as she swung the point of her sword back to Giles' throat.

"Don't hurt him Katy, just keep him there," Angel said with a commanding expression on his face as he started to walk towards Buffy, but she did the unexpected and walked up to him.

"Why Angel, so that you can finish your spell and unleash hell on Earth," Buffy demanded with a very frustrated and angry scowl on her face as she balled up her fists and glared straight up into Angel's eyes, wondering how she ever thought that they were beautiful and haunting.

"If only…finally, it's about time you showed up," Angel started to say back with a sly smirk on his face as he visibly relaxed and leaned back a bit, causing both Buffy and Giles to wonder exactly what was going on. Xander was about to ask what was going on when Buffy felt an odd tingle rise up the back of her neck. She furrowed her brow in confusion and disbelief before she felt someone ever so gently brush the hair away from the back of her neck. Her head screamed for her to turn around and defend herself, but her body revolted and stayed as unmoving as a mountain. What came next was certainly unexpected. With a softness and tenderness that she hadn't much experienced a trail of soft kisses was laid down from the back of her neck around to her collarbone and then up towards her chin. Despite her best efforts to remain strong Buffy softly moaned under the attack and closed her eyes as her knees began to turn to jelly. All was going well until a shrill male voice called out, startling everyone, "Oh my God, Spike, you're alive!"

END OF CHAPTER 30


	31. It Had To Be You

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Michelle, Katy, and Morgan.**

**Author's Note: I will be writing a sequel though I will try to use less people as then it's easier to write. As to Faith's assessment here in this chapter, sorry if you're a Xander fan but to me it'd fit her in this particular instance.**

**CHAPTER 31-IT HAD TO BE YOU**

The former nerds extreme outburst caught everyone off guard, no once more so than Spike, as he barely had time to lean back away from Spike, who whimpered a bit in protest, before Andrew slammed into him and wrapped him up into the tightest hug that he could manage. Angel couldn't help but grin and do his best to hold back a laugh at the look on Spike's face as he tried to extricate himself from Andrew's grasp. Dawn however couldn't help but grin and then double over laughing at the sight, something that both Giles and Buffy found odd, with the former doing his best to hide his shock at the sight of the still alive vampire while for the latter all color drained instantly from her face before he eyes began to fill up with tears, just as her mouth was trying to form words.

"You can let go of him now Andrew," Angel said with an amused smirk on his face, a smirk that received an angry glare from Spike, before he stepped forward and pulled Spike back and out of Andrews grasp.

"S…Sp…," Buffy began to mumble almost incoherently as the tears began to slide down her cheeks as she brought two terribly trembling hands up until they finally found a home on both sides of Spike's face. Silence reigned and time seemed to freeze as Buffy gently stroked Spike's cheeks, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and smile at how good it felt. When he opened his eyes again Spike could see the indecision in her eyes, hoping beyond anything that it was indeed him that was standing in front of her and not some copy while a small part of her seemed to be furious at him. Guessing and hoping that it was the former rather than the latter he spoke.

"Hello pet, fancy meeting you here," Spike whispered softly under his breath straight to Buffy as they were locked in each other's gazes and no one else in the room existed to them but each other.

"Spike…is it, really you," Buffy managed to choke out through the tears as she trailed her fingers down from his cheeks, past his collarbone, over his chest and down his stomach.

"In the flesh luv," Spike shot back in a whisper with his best randy smile before she surprised him, rearing back with her fist and driving it straight into the middle of his face.

"Ow…bloody hell slayer, what is it with you and my nose, if I didn't know better I'd think that…," Spike howled in pain and surprise as he reached up to clutch as his pained nose before Buffy shocked him again. Before he could finish his angry howl Buffy's hands snapped up and wrapped around his head before violently pulling him down into a kiss that had he been human, would have done much more than simply take his breath away. Standing nearby Angel felt an odd pang of jealousy, but was surprised at how quickly it passed.

"Wow," Katy said with a look of awe on her face as she wiped away a single tear while still keeping the point of her sword close to Giles' throat.

"Ya got that right," Andrew chimed in with an in heaven smile on his face as his eyes were brimming over with tears and after several seconds he found that he could not hold his enthusiasm in any longer and he screeched with joy and hugged the person closest to him, which unfortunately for him just so happened to be Angel.

"Um…Andrew, let go of me…now," Angel said with a forceful but polite tone to his voice as he managed to wedge the former villain away long enough to see Morgan descend the stairs and stand beside Connor, another bolt loaded in her crossbow.

"Oh…uh sorry," Andrew mumbled back in fear before he smiled his most genuine and harmless smile as he backed away from Angel towards Giles.

"What now dad," Connor asked with a concerned look on his face as he and Morgan backed up to stand beside him.

"The situation hasn't changed Angel, we still can't let you cast the spell," Giles interrupted with a rather stern and disapproving scowl on his face as he stepped back away from Katy and turned to Angel.

"Says who," Dawn asked with an indignant frown on her face as she stood up to the former watcher and glared straight at him.

"Me, you forget Angel that you're outnumbered, it would be stupid to," Giles began to say with a very skeptical and scathing sneer on his face as he aimed his anger straight at Angel before he was interrupted from above.

"No…I think that it'd be stupid if you two kept fighting like five year olds while we were surrounded by vampires," Gwen said with a nervous but yet still sarcastic tone to her voice as she slid down the railing and landed beside Angel, giving him a shrug of her shoulders towards the doorway.

"Surrounded by…oh," Angel started to ask with a totally clueless expression on his face before they stopped fighting long enough to turn and see that most of the club was now taken up by a seemingly endless army of the undead.

"You should be dead," The Immortal snapped in shock and anger as he picked himself up out of the debris and glared across the room.

"You to, however neither one of us seems to be in the Deeper Well," Illyria replied with an emotionless expression on her face as she climbed through the hole in the wall.

"I will never go there, I will never be defeated," The Immortal announced with a very certain and confidant tone to his voice and look on his face as he approached Illyria.

"You are a coward, even I…the great Illyria, was defeated and sent to the Deeper Well, and you are not greater than I," Illyria shot back with a very serious and determined look on her face before one of the Sabatin demons slashed her across her back, leaving a semi deep wound and shredding what was left of her clothing.

"I am not a coward, the rest of us were stupid to only fight amongst ourselves, we could have ruled all dimensions, instead we started a futile civil war and lost everything," The Immortal said with an angry and frustrated look on his face as he kept his gaze locked straight ahead at Illyria's nude form.

"You have been corrupted by the flesh of these lesser beings, you should have ruled them, yet you did not, you hid amongst them, like a worm," Illyria shot back with an equally angry look on her face as she dropped down to a knee as behind her the Sabatin demon that had attacked her readied another strike.

"Perhaps, but unlike you I am still alive," The Immortal said with a very taunting tone of voice as he knelt down in front of Illyria and gently caressed her cheek before venturing further down.

"For now," Illyria said back with a fed up and slightly sickened expression on her face as she reached out and grabbed a hold of The Immortal by the wrist and spun him around, straight into the oncoming attack from the Sabatin demon. The demon's long claw skewered him through the stomach and then a strike from another demon severed his head. Illyria would have silently celebrated had she not been struck by the discharge of The Immortal leaving his latest shell. The resulting implosion caused by both of their deaths decimated the Sabatin demons that The Immortal had used for protection as well as leveled half of the building adjacent to the club.

Whistler couldn't remember why he had chosen the name Whistler for this realm. He really didn't like to whistle and to top it off he wasn't very good at it. He had always found those two facts odd but guessed that at the time he had thought that Whistler would make a good name. Before he had found Angel and set him on the right path he had tinkered with the idea of changing it but decided against that after Angel turned out to be a success. Nearby Lorne sat hunched over in the back seat of the van, doing his best to summon up enough courage to face Angel and the others again after his I'm out speech back in Los Angeles. When the small explosion occurred in the building next to the club Lorne's fears became an afterthought as his more heroic tendencies got the better of him. Lifting his head up he took in the crumbling building and just had to go and make sure that no one had been injured in the blast. He raced across the street without looking before nearly passing out when he recognized the first body that lay at his feet, that of Buffy's boyfriend, The Immortal.

"Okay, I'll take the hundred on the right and…," Spike started to say with a fair amount of sarcasm before Angel interrupted.

"Not that again, how about we just fight," Angel said with an annoyed plea as he pulled Spike back away from Buffy momentarily before the two stood shoulder to shoulder and readied for the attack.

"Dawn get behind me," Buffy shouted in alarm with a tone to her voice that Dawn knew that there was no discussion.

"Where's Willow," Kennedy growled with an unhappy but determined look on her face as she got into a fighters stance and waited for the attack to come.

"Somewhere safe, Groo…make sure that Michelle and Willow are safe, they have to complete the spell, no matter what happens to us they have to finish setting up that spell, otherwise her death will have been for nothing," Angel said with a very commanding edge to his voice as he said it back over his shoulder to Groo, who hesitated at Gwen's side for a bit before he nodded his head and raced back into the darkness.

"Friends of yours Angel," Giles asked with a weak smirk on his face even though Angel could smell the fear coming off of the former watcher.

"Nope," Angel answered curtly with an unhappy scowl on his face before Morgan flinched and pulled the trigger of her crossbow, dusting one of the vampires before it could even open it's mouth to utter something in surprise. Shrieking in surprise and fear Morgan fumbled with the second bolt, with her injured arm not helping any, before the lead vampire growled and ordered the attack to commence in a language that Buffy didn't recognize. "Okay people, let's go to work," Angel said with a very serious tone to his voice as Spike was able to keep from making any side comments before the first wave of vampires came close.

Xander ducked away from the first wave of vampires, barely avoiding the fate of one of the new slayers as she was overwhelmed and died before she could even scream. Vi struck back with as much force as she could, dusting two before getting a chair smashed across her back. Rhona saw Vi go down but couldn't go and help because one of the vampires grabbed her arm ad pulled her away as she fought against another that was charging hard straight at her. Kennedy came to her rescue and tackled the vampire that had grabbed her arm, staking him in the middle of a particularly profound curse, which allowed Rhona to fall back onto the top of one of the tables and be ready to drive her stake up through the heart of the vampire that was charging towards her.

Working unnaturally well together the trio of Spike, Buffy, and Angel held steadfast as the vampire army descended on them. Dawn did her best to stay out of the range of the swords and other weapons that were flying everywhere, though she contributed to the fight by picking up a few stray pieces of wood and dusting the few vampires that got by Buffy and Spike. Nina leapt into the fight by holding two crossbow bolts in her teeth with the rest tucked underneath her arm and firing them off as fast as she could. The tip of each crossbow bolt was specially constructed so that they would explode upon impact, releasing the highly concentrated holy water inside. Connor backed Morgan up the first few steps of the stairway before he took his position directly at the base of the stairs, determined to not let anything pass. Morgan used the cover that Connor provided her to get a good aim, firing into the crowd of vampires that surged at them.

Surprising herself Katy actually held her own, though that was greatly due to her position in the club, being situated directly at the end of a long line of overturned tables. Thereby forcing any vampire that wanted to do her harm to have to come straight at her, negating any attempt by the vampires to gang up on her. After first being very nearly scared out of his own skin David rebounded, shocked out of his stupor by the scream from one of the dying new slayers that Buffy had brought with her. Dragging himself back up to his feet David used the railing for support and fired off two crossbow bolts before he tried to pull another one out of his quiver but his hands were shaking so terribly that he ended up fumbling the entire quiver over the side of the railing and down the floor below. Staving off a heart attack at the shock of losing the bolts David fumbled around on the inside of his coat, almost blowing his toes off when he tried to pull the shotgun out of its special spot without unclasping it first. He first noticed Katy holding her ground by the tables but saw that the vampires were starting to shove the tables out of the way on their way to her. Knowing that it wasn't a good development David carefully took aim and fired, hoping to hit one of the vampires, but he was so nervous and so shocked by the sound and concussion of the first shot that he fell backwards, blowing away one of the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling instead.

With a quick squeeze of Wesley's hand, and an unspoken wish that he not die, Faith launched herself into the battle, using the hand railing for support she bounded over it in one fluid motion before using several vampires to cushion her fall. She intended to hurry to Angel and Spike's side, helping them fend off the majority of the vampires. However her plan was diverted when she saw Xander and Giles being quickly pushed back by the vampires that had been diverted away from the main three. Despite starting to get on in years Giles held his own, well enough for Faith to wish that she had met him during his Ripper days. She had learned about those days from Wesley's memories, when the then young watcher to be had studied up on the man that he would be replacing. Xander however still seemed completely out of his element, bashing the vampires with anything that he could get his hands on, from table and chairs to beer bottles and drink cups. The memory of their time together flashed through her mind as she watched him take a small sip from one of the beers before he smashed it over the head of the nearest vampire. He had done the job for that night, allowing her a release for all of her pent up anxiety and emotions. However in her mind he could only rise to that level, good enough for her for one short bit of time but for anything permanent she would need a real man. Wesley followed her up by hurrying over to the edge of the railing and picking off any vampire foolish enough to get in her way as she rescued Xander from the clutches of two vampires, staking one and snapping the neck of the second, before she helped Giles to dust a third vampire. Once that was done Faith next turned her attention to helping Katy, who was fighting valiantly but her inexperience was showing and she had received more than a few cuts and scrapes in the early going and was starting to weaken and lose ground. Rather than fight at her side Faith instead chose to try and help lighten the load on the embattled young slayer, striking hard and fast into the side of the column that was threatening her. Wesley smiled in respect and admiration at her actions before some of the vampires broke off from the main force and charged up the stairs nearest to him. He blew away the first vampire before the next one managed to knock the shotgun out of his hands. Acting quickly he managed to avoid a right hook but couldn't move fast enough afterwards and was tackled backwards into some boxes of drink cups being kept near the bar in case they ran out.

She blocked out the melee that was happening in the club and concentrated on the task at hand, correctly aligning the spell components as well as drawing the proper markings on the floor. Michelle watched her closely, visibly trembling as the battle waged on, her mouth whispering one hope and prayer after another. Luckily for them both the vampires hadn't noticed that either were even there yet, but both knew that their luck wouldn't last forever and that they had to be ready when it ran out.

"Michelle, come help me move these tables," Willow shouted as loudly as she dared to the young slayer, who almost dropped her crossbow in shock before she turned around, blushing a very dark red in embarrassment.

"O…okay, not to bother you but why are we moving these tables," Michelle replied with a very nervous smile on her face before she laid her crossbow down onto one of the tables and hurried over to help Willow move the tables.

"I need to draw some more runes and sigils on the floor and they were in the way, besides when the spell is finished I'm going to go all Dark Phoenix for a bit, and I don't want anything around me that I could hurt someone," Willow replied with a warm smile on her face as the two began to move the tables, just as Groo materialized out of the darkness.

"Angel sent me to protect you, do you acquire assistance," Groo announced with a proud and determined smile on his face as he took up a defensive position nearby.

"Thank God," Michelle whispered with relief under her breath at the thought that she wouldn't have to protect Willow and the spell all by herself. She was excited about guarding this important piece of the plan but wasn't to sure just how good of a guard she would really be and hoped that it wouldn't be to bad.

"Not yet Groo, just stand watch, I'm almost through here," Willow replied with a thankful smile on her face as she looked up at Groo just as she and Michelle finished with the last table.

Spike and Angel had been separated from each other but continued fighting hard, ending up fighting back to back with Buffy and Connor respectively. Morgan quickly ran out of her crossbow bolts as she fired at anything that moved, several times almost hitting Spike and Angel in the process. When she ran out she had tried to lean over and grab the bolts that David had dropped but she had lost her balance and fallen to the floor. Scrambling back up to her feet she slid the knife out of her belt and almost began to hyperventilate as the first vampire swung under the stairs and rushed at her. She tried to slash at him but he blocked it and held fast on her arm, grinning like a jackal that had just caught its next meal. Panic coursing through her veins Morgan did the only thing that she could think of, bringing her knee straight up into his groin. He instantly let go of her arm and crumpled to the floor. Morgan began to revel in her triumph but was stopped almost immediately by the figure that calmly walked through the front door of the club, looking like she was out for a Sunday afternoon picnic, complete with Miss Edith.

END OF CHAPTER 31


	32. Chapter 32

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 32-A WORST NIGHTMARE OPENING**

Spike felt her presence only a moment before Angel did. At first he believed that his senses were playing tricks on him. But then his gaze fell upon the familiar lithe form and the graceful and calm manner of her step. He blinked his eyes several times in a vain and half-hearted attempt to clear his vision, hoping that she would vanish. But she did not.

"D…Dru," Spike softly gasped out in disbelief after dusting yet another vampire that had tried to dust him.

"My boys, see Ms. Edith, they're both being very bad," Dru stated with her usual sing song tone as she brought her favorite doll up to eye level and whispered into its nonexistent ear.

"Uh Spike, I could use a little help…here," Buffy started to shout at Spike in between punches and kicks before she spotted Dru.

"What are you doing here Dru," Angel called out with a very determined and unhappy scowl on his face before he threw a punch that missed badly, but only because the vampire that he had aimed his punch at jumped back and stopped fighting. Almost instantly the rest of the vampires did the same and soon everyone had an odd and eerie feeling.

"Well now isn't that the million dollar question Angel," A husky voice said from the doorway before Angel looked over and had he a heartbeat it would have stopped immediately upon seeing the figure.

"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled out in shock and awe as he stared straight ahead at the man that he knew to be dead, but yet here he was grinning back at him.

"Shit," Faith grumbled with a confused look on her face as even though she didn't know exactly what was going on she knew that it couldn't be good.

"Lindsey…but how, you're…," Angel mumbled out with a very confused expression on his face as he slowly leaned down and picked his sword back up off of the ground.

"Dead…yeah, thanks for that by the way, you couldn't even kill me yourself, you had to have one of your flunkies do it…and here I thought that you had more balls than that, guess Spike isn't the only dumbass in your family," Lindsey shot back with a mocking sneer on his face as he was dressed in a fine business suit, looking like he had just come from the trial of the century.

"You should be six feet under," Spike said back with an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as he took a step back away from the former lawyer and turned to Angel.

"I am…well technically at least, you remember don't you, I signed a contract with Wolfram and Hart you fools, death isn't exactly what it used to be," Lindsey said with an almost mocking smile on his face as he walked up to Angel and shook his head.

"The contract, of course…like with Lilah, they signed their lives and souls over to Wolfram and Hart, so that even after death," Wesley staggered out softly as he tried to recover his breath while Faith almost silently raced back up the steps and was at his side before anyone responded.

"Smart man, but you see unlike Lilah I'm not just here to convey a message, I'm here to kill you, but only after you sign over your soul to me…well me and Wolfram and Hart of course, it's not that bad…you already signed it over once, well your right to the Shanshu prophecy anyway," Lindsey

"Shan…Angel," Buffy wondered aloud with a confused look on her face as she stopped for a moment to collect her breath.

"The Shanshu prophecy, it states that after the vampire with a soul has gone through the trials and died…that he will live, as a human being," Wesley said as he answered for Angel while he and Faith made their way down the stairs.

"With no strings, he'll become a real boy," Spike added with a sarcastic pout on his face as he shook his head and glanced in Buffy's general direction.

"But you said that he signed his right away, but then if not Angel then…," Giles started to ask with a deep in thought look on his face before he realized where it was that this thought process was going.

"That it would fall to you, that you could," Buffy started to say, almost in a whisper, before her eyes threatened to fill up with tears and she could not continue.

"I don't know, I'm not sure about that, for all I know the prophecy could still pertain to me," Angel quickly said with an irritated tone to his voice as he took a step forward towards Lindsey and Dru.

"Or you could have signed away your one chance at being human," Nina added with a sad look on her face as she gently laid a hand on Angel's arm.

"Either way it doesn't matter, because this is the end of the line for you Angel, with the information and aide that Drusilla here has given to us it's only a matter of time before we own you, even more so than we already do, you belong to Wolfram and Hart," Lindsey said back with a very serious and proud smile on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets.

"I belong to no one," Angel declared with a very forceful and deadly serious edge to his voice as he almost slipped his game face on for added confirmation.

"We all belong to someone or something Angel, even you," Lindsey replied with an unfortunate pout on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and tried to hold back a smile.

"The only group that I belong to is the human race," Faith shot back quickly, before anyone else could, as she let go of Wesley's arm and looked ready for a fight.

"You're forgetting your little stay in prison Faith, the system owns you, and please don't think that just because I'm dead that you and I aren't going to have a little chat about you taking my place with Wesley here," Lilah said with an only slightly irritated look on her face as she walked into the club behind Lindsey, getting shocked stares from Angel and those that had known her, before she stopped shoulder to shoulder with Dru and directed her gaze up onto the railing.

"This doesn't make any sense," Katy mumbled with a completely confused and scared look on her face as she shook her head and turned to Spike.

"Got that right, what is Jimmy Hoffa next, Elvis maybe," Spike joked with a very sarcastic smirk on his face as he shot Lindsey a very serious gaze.

"You're so funny, gotta remember to mention that at your funeral," Lindsey shot back with a very arrogant grin on his face as he slowly nodded his head.

"What's going on here…anybody, we came here to cast a spell to keep Wolfram and Hart from opening up any more portals and," Morgan exclaimed with a frustrated and anxious expression on her face as she stepped past Connor and looked straight at Lindsey.

"Yeah see…sorry but we're here to make sure that you don't, the Senior Partners wouldn't like that very much, especially when they haven't killed all of you yet," Lilah said back with a mocking pout on her face as she stepped forward and glanced briefly at Faith and Wesley before she made it a point to get Angel to focus on her.

"The Senior Partners can fuck themselves for all I care," Faith growled with an angry sneer on her face as she pulled the shotgun out of Wesley's coat and turned back to the former lawyer.

"A typical response from a worthless excuse for a slayer like you," Lindsey shot back with an energized grin on his face before Wesley had to grab a hold of Faith to keep her from firing at the lawyers.

"Easy…he's just trying to make you mad," Wesley began to harshly whisper to Faith as he took the shotgun away from her and pulled her close before she cut in.

"Yeah well…it's working," Faith grumbled with a very angry scowl on her face as she relaxed just a bit and turned to Wesley.

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"What's going on, who's at the door," Michelle asked with a very worried look on her face as she meekly looked up at Groo.

"I do not know, however Angel seems to know them well, and the frail looking woman has not taken her eyes off of Spike since she arrived," Groo replied with an unsure shrug of his shoulders before Willow looked up from the book.

"Frail looking woman…she wouldn't by any chance have long brown hair, be holding a doll, and look like she's a bit…off," Willow asked with a concerned and worried expression on her face as she looked up at Groo and hoped that she was wrong.

"Yes," Groo quietly replied back with a quick nod of his head as he turned back to Willow and amazed at how she had been able to describe the woman without even looking at her.

"This is worse than I thought, it's Dru…Spike's sire and a childe of Angel before he got his soul, if she's here then we're all in big trouble," Willow said with a very worried and slightly scared look on her face as she walked out from behind the table and up to stand beside Groo and Michelle.

"But…but you're almost done with the spell right, you can cast the spell and then they'll go away…leave us alone," Michelle stammered out with a totally petrified look on her face as she turned to Willow and began to shake with fear.

"Almost, but I'm still going to need a little bit more time to perform the spell, and if they find out what we're doing back here then it's not going to take much time for them to try and stop us," Willow replied with a very concerned frown on her face as she turned away from Groo and Michelle and went back to the spell.

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"This is the end Angel, you've already played your ace in the hole and now it's my…our turn," Lindsey said with a very confidant and arrogant grin on his face as he pulled what looked like a tv remote out of his pocket and pushed the largest button on it.

"That supposed to scare…us," Xander started to shoot back with a scared and sarcastic tone to his voice before a large number of Wolfram and Hart guards walked into the club, their weapons pointed directly at Angel and Buffy and Spike along with everyone else. Outside the guards surrounded the club five lines deep and looked prepared to repel anyone or anything that tried to get past them.

"Good call Lindsey, you've thought this through down to the last letter," Angel started to say with a humble and almost scared look on his face as he briefly bowed his head before Spike jumped in.

"Except you missed the most important little piece of the plan, we haven't played our ace in the hole yet," Spike interjected with a sly grin on his face as Buffy looked on with a confused look on her face as she tried to read from Spike's words and body language what was going to happen next. But it scared her a bit that she couldn't read anything at all from him, Angel either.

"What's that supposed to mean, some inherently heroic last desperate act," Lilah objected with a haughty smile on her face as she was clearly thinking that she and Lindsey had all of the power in their hands and Angel had none.

"Two words Lilah, The Initiative, well maybe more precisely Riley Finn, a former boyfriend of Buffy's that when he's not being a complete idiot he can actually be helpful," Angel countered with an eerily calm and confidant steadily growing smile on his face as he picked his head up and slid his hands into the pockets of his coat.

"Since when," Spike mumbled softly under his breath with a slightly cheesy half smirk on his face as he tore his gaze away from Dru and turned it to Angel.

"We have this entire club surrounded Angel, what help could The Initiative possibly be to you, they hate anything that's not human," Lindsey shot back with a mocking grin on his face as he slid the small remote like device back into his pocket.

"That they do, but as that dogma extends to Spike and I…it extends to the three of you as well, and I'd expect quite a few of your guards, and what do you think would happen if one of your guards were to kill one of their soldiers, they probably wouldn't take it too well," Angel added with a very calm expression on his face as he stepped forward and slightly away from Buffy and Spike before he pulled what looked like a Pez dispenser out of his pocket.

"In fact, they'd probably want a little revenge," Spike added with a sly grin on his face as he looked first to Angel and then over to Lindsey as Buffy looked on with a confused and nervous look on her face.

"This doesn't mean," Lilah started to say with a confidant smirk on her face, even though both Angel and Spike could smell her fear.

"It means exactly this," Angel said with a very determined but yet very calm expression on his face as he politely pushed the button on the top of the small device, mere moments before the entire building rocked violently as several large and small explosions ripped through the city.

"What was that," Morgan exclaimed with a great amount of fear in her voice as the force of the explosions sent her reeling into Connor, luckily he had expected something and had set his feet beforehand.

"The first part of my plan Morgan, the second phase should be beginning shortly," Angel replied with a slowly growing amount of confidence smile on his face as he turned back to her and Connor.

"It won't work Angel, no plan of yours could possibly have any chance of," Lindsey started to counter with an angry scowl on his face before one of the guards walked up and whispered something into his ear. Buffy couldn't hear exactly what the guard was saying but she could tell by the changing look on Lindsey's face that he didn't like what he was hearing.

"Something amiss Lindsey," Spike asked with an almost sing song quality to his voice, as it was clear to everyone that William The Bloody was enjoying the former lawyers distress.

"My boy's have done a bad thing…yes, a bad thing, they must be punished, right Ms. Edith," Dru added softly, seemingly off in her own little world, before she hugged the doll close to her chest and see to whisper something extra to it.

"No…nothing's wrong, everything is completely under control," Lindsey answered with an angry and proud glare in his eyes as he straightened up and ignored the concerned looks that Lilah was sending him.

"Then why do I hear gunshots in the background, they don't sound like Wolfram and Hart weapons, at least none that I'm aware of," Angel shot back with an amused smirk on his face before he covertly checked his watch and tried not to scowl at how few of minutes had passed since they had first entered the club.

"This won't work Angel, this little bluff that you're trying to pull of now," Lilah said with a nervous look on her face even though she tried her best to appear completely confidant.

"Who's bluffing," Angel asked with a daring grin on his face before he slipped his game face on and tore into the front line of Wolfram and Hart guards before they could even get their guns up. Spike followed his example and struck those guards that had only begun to react to Angel's sudden charge. Buffy didn't need to be told to fight as she joined the fray, trying to minimize the number of injuries as best she could, on both sides. Xander and Andrew ducked for cover underneath the closest set of stairs while Connor pushed Morgan behind a set of stacked speakers before he followed his father into the fight.

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Willow very nearly lit her own thumb on fire when the first shots rang out. She had just begun to light the one hundred and one candles that were required for the spell when the first shot rang out. Michelle nearly dove to the floor in fear while Groo tensed up and spun back around to make sure that Willow and Michelle hadn't been hit. Willow waved him off and went back to lighting the candles, but not before checking to make sure that Michelle was okay and that they hadn't been noticed yet. When the candles were all finally lit she allowed herself a moment to relax. Taking a deep breath in and out Willow set the lighting candle down and turned back to the book with the spell in it. She opened up the book and set her finger onto the first line of the spell and started to utter the first few words, giving one last fleeting look across the dance floor, seeing Katy jump towards one of the support poles that held up the second story railing, followed closely behind by the Wolfram and Hart guards.

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"Here's hoping," Katy hope and prayed to herself as she leapt towards a support beam for the second story railing just as soon as the insane idea crept into her head, seeing as how it was the only thing other than fear existing in her mind at that moment. She landed next to the pole and dodged the first swing of an axe by one of the guards before she kicked him as hard as she could where she knew that she would do the most damage. Trying to laugh as he howled in pain and went down Katy missed the next punch, one that caught her across the jaw and sent her stumbling. She would have fallen to her feet, and most likely her quick death, had she not latched onto the pole and kept herself on her feet. Hugging the pole tightly she crouched down and picked her sword back up before she put her hastily thrown together plan into action. Using the slim opportunity given to her by a shudder of the club due to an aftershock of one of the explosions she stayed crouched down until she had built up enough power in her legs. As the guards began to adjust to the aftershock Katy took her chance and leapt up as high as she could, holding her sword in one hand while at the apex of her jump she wrapped her legs tightly around the pole and leaned backwards, arching her back until she was staring at the nearest guards completely upside down.

"Stupid bitch, come down…," The nearest guard started to growl with an angry sneer on his face before Katy clenched her leg muscles tightly and held on as she swung the sword as hard as she could, lopping the guards head off before he could finish the sentence.

"Hope he wasn't human," Katy screamed silently to herself in her head as the thought of killing another human being nearly froze her as she watched the body fall limply to the floor and the shock of what had happened register in the other guards. The loss of one of their own did not take long to affect the other guards as they, on mass rushed Katy. Going more on instinct than any training or actual plan she held as tightly as she could to the pole with her legs and swung at the guards with her sword as they came near and then sat up out of the way of their retaliatory attacks, glad that she had done so many crunches and sit ups before finding out that she was a slayer. After she had killed four more of the guards in this manner she noticed that the guard had gotten wise to her strategy and had somehow come into possession of wicked looking spears. Taking in a sharp and scared breath Katy released her grip on the pole just enough to slide down it almost until she hit the ground, barley missing the first strike with the spears. Just before she let go of the pole and crashed to the ground she swung her sword out one more time and severed the nearest guards feet. Her luck ran out shortly after as one of the guards got a lucky shot in with his spear as he ducked in low and jabbed in into her left leg, just barely outside of her tan line from wearing a g-string to the beach. Katy did her best to not scream like a child but she couldn't help it. Unfortunately for her the scream attracted more guards. The first one up was about to skewer her with his spear when a large hole was blasted clear through his chest. Katy started to stare on in amazement through the tears before she saw Faith kick that guard away and block the strike of one spear with her left arm before she pulled one of Wesley's sawn off shotguns out from behind her back and unloaded it into the stomach of the guard nearest to Katy.

"Katy fall back," Wesley shouted out as he cocked his shotgun for another blast as the guards split up and turned away from Katy, and against Wesley and Faith as the latter jabbed the butt end of the shotgun up into the crotch of the next guard before she flipped it around and jammed the barrel into his mouth and then pulled the trigger, spewing blood and brain matter everywhere, some of running down Katy's stomach and mixing with her bloody, nearly causing her to vomit as she clutched her wounded leg and hobbled away as best she could using only one arm.

"Great plan Wes, now what," Faith shouted out back over her shoulder with a very serious expression on her face as she recovered from killing the one guard just in time to barely be able to block the spear thrust of the next one.

"Don't die," Wesley shouted back with a very determined look on his face as he unloaded his shotgun into the chest of another guard and then used the gun as a club to knock away the next guard.

END OF CHAPTER 32


	33. Chapter 33

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Michelle, Katy, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 33-WHAT A CRAZY WORLD**

"This is just going from bad to worse Angel, you and your buddies are all going to die," Lilah stated with a very confidant and mocking tone to her voice as she stepped up towards Angel and looked around at the various fights that were going on around the club.

"We'll see, Spike get Buffy and the others out of here now," Angel started to say with a confidant smirk on his face before turned to Spike and shouted the rest.

"Right," Spike shot back with a very serious expression on his face before he sliced the throat of the nearest guard with the tip of his sword before he grabbed Buffy's arm and began to drag her out of the club.

"What are you doing, let go of me," Buffy started to shout with an angry scowl on her face as she tried to break free of Spike's grasp, but he held firm.

"Can't pet, this place is about to get pretty uninhabitable to those that need to breathe, Dawn come on time to leave," Spike began to say back with a nervous but restrained smile on his face before he raised his voice so that Dawn would hear him. Buffy started to shout something back but was surprised when Dawn did what Spike said and was soon at their side.

"What's that supposed to…," Buffy started to angrily demand before Dawn joined Spike in helping to drag Buffy out of the club.

"Wesley, Faith, get Katy and get out of here, get the others out to," Gwen shouted in alarm as she ducked under an attack, shocked the guard off of the second story railing, and then grabbed David's collar, hauling him back towards the exit.

"Easy for her to say, she's not the one with forty guards trying to kill her," Faith grunted back with an unhappy and impatient scowl on her face as she struggled to fend off three guards that had surrounded her.

"I'll get Katy," Wesley said back with a very determined look on his face as he used his shotgun as a club, breaking one guards nose after another, using their recovery time as his window of opportunity as he raced forward and helped the injured Katy back to her feet.

"Just like you to take the easy job," Faith shot back with at first an angry scowl on her face before the tips of her mouth began to curl up into the beginnings of a smile.

"I never really saw you as one to run Angel, guess you learn something new every day," Lindsey stated with a confidant smile on his face as he poked Angel in the chest with his finger.

"I'm not running Lindsey, just getting my people out of harms way, Willow do it now," Angel started to reply calmly with a slow step back before he turned, grabbed a hold of both Giles and Xander by the arm, and started to pull them back out of the building, just as a terrified Andrew followed.

"The witch," Lindsey said softly, almost in a gasp, before the possibilities of Angel's odd retreat began to materialize in his mind.

"Bet you forgot about her huh," Nina added with a triumphant grin on her face as she briefly glanced in Angel's direction and then quickly backed up the stairs.

"Willow's here…where, Willow," Xander exclaimed with a surprised look on his face before he followed his norm and started to shout for his friend.

"Shut up Xander, she's busy casting a spell to closing the portals, saving all of us from an unstoppable demon army," Angel growled with an unhappy scowl on his face as he held onto Xander's collar a little tighter and dragged him back a little faster. Hearing this Kennedy grabbed first Rhona by the arm and then Vi, shoving them both out of the club in front of her through a hole in the wall that some of the Wolfram and Hart guards had caused earlier in the fight. She had just passed through the hole herself when something struck her in the back of her head and her entire world went black.

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"Guess it's time to get this party started…God that was lame," Willow started to say with a very proud and excited smile on her face before her countenance soured and she shook her head at herself.

"What was," Michelle asked with a terrified look in her eyes as she quickly hurried back to the table and looked up at Willow.

"Nothing, okay once I start the spell this small cauldron will start to smoke, we're safe as long as the smoke stays white, but once it turns red then we'll need to get out of here as fast as we can," Willow replied back with a nervous smile on her face as she waved off the young slayers worries and went back to the cauldron.

"What about them, what if they find us before the smoke turns red," Michelle shot back with a very nervous look of fear in her eyes as she held onto her weapon tightly and hoped that she would never have to use it.

"Then we're screwed," Willow replied with a nervous look on her face as she kept from looking back up at Michelle before Groo interrupted.

"When we must leave please alert me and I will protect you," Groo interjected with a very kind but also serious look on his face as he only briefly glanced back at Michelle and Willow before he snapped his gaze back to where the Wolfram and Hart guards were beginning to fan out and do their best to find them.

"Deal," Willow said back quickly with a deep in thought look on her face before she pulled the slip of paper, that had the spell on it, out of her pocket and began to read. Michelle recognized a few of the words but kept her observations to herself rather than possibly screw up the spell. Instead she kept her gaze riveted on the smoke coming from the cauldron. The second that it turned red she promised herself that she would turn and run, no matter how many guards there were between her and the exit. Willow was almost done reciting the words of the spell before the smoke turned to a bright pink and then started to turn red.

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"Spike, let go of me," Buffy demanded with an unhappy scowl on her face as she finally wrenched her arm from Spike's grasp.

"We far enough away Angel," Spike asked with a very concerned look on his face as he thought briefly about saying something to Buffy but knew that now was not the time or the place for their talk.

"You and I are but the others aren't, Nina take Connor and get everyone back to the fallback point, Spike and I will stay here and make sure that you're not followed, please," Angel replied back to Spike with a slightly unsure look on his face before he turned over to Nina and punctuated his request with a kiss, an act that surprised Buffy even though she knew of the connection between the two.

"But I can help you fight," Connor started to argue with an unhappy scowl on his face before Gwen cut in.

"Nice thought kid, but the spell that Willow's casting in there will kill anything that's not already dead within a fifty yard radius when it goes off," Gwen interjected with a very serious look on her face before Wesley handed a slightly better Katy over to her and turned back to Angel.

"We'll wait there for an hour, if you're not there by then we'll take everyone to the mansion, Buffy and the slayers to," Wesley said with a very serious look on his face before he pulled a knife from behind his back and handed it to Angel.

"What's this for," Angel asked with a confused look on his face as he took the knife, thinking that it looked oddly familiar.

"A little luck, it's the knife that you gave me after you returned for your sabbatical after Buffy's death, it brought me luck so I just thought that it might do the same for you," Wesley answered with a sly grin on his face before Faith pulled him away and over towards their car.

"This is crazy Angel, tell me what's going on…I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me," Buffy started to exclaim with a very stern and unwavering look on her face before Dawn cut in before Giles could.

"When Angel and the others fought the demon army in LA the senior partners opened up a ton of portals to get the demons there, and unless Willow can cast the spell they'll simply just do it again and it won't matter how many slayers or vampires with souls that we have, it'll be the end of the world," Dawn said with such a very serious and scared look on her face and in her eyes that Buffy didn't continue to argue.

"Fine, but when this is over Angel you and I are going to sit down and have a nice long talk," Buffy unhappily agreed with a quick nodding of her head before she glared at first Angel and then Spike.

"Works for me, but now would everyone please leave before the spell is cast," Angel said with a calm but nervous look on his face as he knew that he didn't have long before Willow's spell would be cast.

"What about Groo and Willow and Michelle," David asked with a scared look on his face as he hurried to not be left behind in the rush to the vehicles.

"They'll be fine, just leave one car running for them and they can take that, now go," Spike replied with a very serious look on his face as he pulled his sword out and began to get ready for the onslaught. Buffy looked back into the alley at Spike and Angel, wondering if she would ever see either one of them again, before Nina very nearly shoved her into the back seat of one of cars and slid behind the wheel.

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She awoke to find herself in a strange place, being drug back away from what at first glance looked like a nightclub. The last thing that she remembered was not getting home in time and winding up running into the wrong crowd. She had danced an extra dance at the club that night and had just barely missed her bus. She glanced down and was surprised to find herself completely naked, wondering where her clothes were. The only thing that she did know for certain is that wherever she was she was not in California anymore.

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"Who would have thought this is how it would end, the two of us fighting side by side against Dru and two lawyers that are most certainly dead however oddly enough have come back to exact their revenge," Spike joked with a sly but serious grin on his face a she glanced over at Angel after a few moments of silence between the two after Nina and Buffy and the others had left.

"Who says it has to end here Spike, I don't know about you but I don't plan on dying here tonight, I plan on making it through this and taking Nina away from everything and everyone and spending the rest of my days in peace and quiet," Angel said with a calm and serious tone of voice as he leaned his sword up against one of the walls and got a better grip on his axe.

"I hope you get that chance Angel…really, just promise me a couple of things, if I don't come through this make sure that Buffy knows that…," Spike started to reply with an honest look on his face before Angel held up an understanding hand to tell Spike that he knew what the rest of his first request was going to be and that he would keep the promise. "And secondly, I want to be the one to stake Dru, it may be your fault that she's a nutter but it's mine that she's still a threat," Spike added as his second request just as Willow came tearing out of the club with a terrified look on her face and Groo carrying an injured Michelle right behind her.

"It's done Angel, you just have to make sure that they don't shatter all of the crystals, if they do then the spell won't work, but there's a problem the senior partners must have figured your plan out because right before we got out I think that I saw a few small portals opening up and I didn't recognize the demon's that came through them, one had six legs and looked like a big spider, it said something about talking meat," Willow exclaimed with a very nervous look on her face as she hung onto Angel's arm while she tried to catch her breath.

"Okay, now get to the car, they left one running for you, and whatever you do don't look back, this won't be pretty," Angel replied with a very serious look on his face before Willow straightened up and nodded her head and then helped Groo get Michelle to the car.

"After you," Spike said with a mock salute to Angel as he nodded towards the club and couldn't help but allow a slight shrug of his shoulders. Angel only scowled in earnest and shook his head in dismay before he rushed back into the club, with Spike close at his side. On their way in Spike thought that he smelled a familiar presence but shrugged it off.

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It was several hours later before she would awake, although no longer living. Whereas once she had been a rookie slayer she was now a member of the undead, a vampire. That fact alone would require several weeks, if not months, for her to adjust to. However her biggest question became what to do about her former friends, most importantly her former girlfriend, the witch that had cast the spell to close the portals. She stripped off her old clothing, likening it to the saying out with the old and in with the new, before she put on the clothes that had been set out for her and went in search of her first meal.

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Angel and Spike tore into the Wolfram and Hart guards, both cutting a swath of death and destruction into their ranks before they got to the newer demons and then the true battle began. Neither Angel nor Spike had any idea what the crystals that Willow had been talking about looked like so they didn't take any chances, anything that looked like a crystal they made sure to protect, even if afterwards they would find out that it was only a worthless piece of glass.

"The sealing spell of Kalikos, nice idea Angel, except you forgot one little thing," Lindsey shouted out about the din of the battle as Spike skewered one demon and then rolled completely underneath a table to the other side to avoid the demon falling on top of him.

"Oh yeah, and what's that, I just know that you're going to tell me," Angel shot back with a mocking but yet very serious tone to his voice as he lopped off the head of one of the guards and then blocked the first attack of the next one.

"The sealing spell of Kalikos requires there to be a sacrifice of someone's life to finish it, and seeing as how neither one of use can qualify for that, and Spike over there either…well it looks like you're fresh out of luck, and don't think about using one of the guards, the death has to be of someone that's a good person, or else the spell is useless.

"Thanks for the reminder, but this is all…part of the…plan," Angel shouted back in between punches and kicks before he buried his axe in the chest of a demon that reminded him of the one that had worshipped Jasmine and took Wesley hostage while they were in the sewers.

"Some plan, you're outnumbered twenty to one, who's going to rescue you," Lilah joked with a mocking sneer on her face as she shoved one of the guards out of the way.

"Well," Spike started to reply with a nervous look on his face before a large explosion ripped through one of the walls of the club, sending everyone to the ground amidst a shower of debris.

"Everybody stay down," A heavily armed soldier shouted at the top of his lungs before he and a seemingly endless army of Initiative soldiers flooded into the club until they matched the number of Wolfram and Hart guards.

"Resistance is futile," Riley announced with a very stern and confidant expression on his face as he took point and aimed his gun directly at Lindsey's heart.

"Please, that has got to be the most overused expression on the face of the earth, right next to hasta la vista baby," Spike interjected with a very sarcastic grin on his face as he turned around and glanced over at Angel, keeping his back to Riley at first.

"He said down, what part of that did you not understand," Sam added with a stern scowl on her face as she aimed her weapon into the middle of Spike's back.

"We understood it just fine, we just don't feel very much like complying since your husband is such a total bonehead," Angel shot back with a sly grin on his face as he waited impatiently for Riley's reaction.

"Angel, I should have known that you would be behind this," Riley growled with a very unhappy scowl on his face before he shifted his gaze to Spike and it looked as if he was momentarily bowled over by shock before he recovered.

"What can I say, I get around," Angel shot back with a sly grin on his face as he and Spike took a step back towards the exit.

"We thought about calling ahead first but…," Spike added with a sarcastic grin on his face as he turned around and sized Sam up.

"Enough of this, get rid of them," Lindsey stated with a frustrated and anxious expression on his face as he scowled in Riley and Sam's general direction before all hell broke loose as he began to usher Lilah and Dru back out of the club. The Wolfram and Hart guards all opened fire on the Initiative soldiers, who in turned returned fire. The bullets were flying so fast and furious that no one in the forefront on either side got out unscathed. Sam was hit first in the leg and then through the stomach while Riley was hit in the shoulder.

"Sam," Riley shouted in alarm as he turned back to look for Sam, who was lying on the ground clutched her heavily bleeding stomach and trying to crawl out of the line of fire.

"Ri," Was all that Sam could garble out before Riley bent down and picked her up despite the pain in his shoulder, carrying her towards the back of the club, just as he began to notice a thick plume of red smoke billowing up into the club. A few seconds later to death screams were heard and then a complete and total silence enveloped the area. Lindsey and Lilah screamed and shouted as loud as they could but no sound came out of their mouths. Dru meanwhile seemed to somehow know or feel what was coming and ran away silently shrieking with Ms. Edith left behind in the haste. Angel and Spike could only begin to move before it happened. Similar to a sonic boom the explosion centered around the table that Willow had cast the spell on and radiated outwards. A massive shockwave ripped through the club, pulverizing brick, wood, and flesh alike. Angel and Spike were both hit full force by the shockwave, very nearly dusting them because of all of the flying wooden debris. Spike was sent flying back through the wall and into the air, flying three city blocks before he finally crashed through the large window of a factory and slammed headlong into a large press, stopping his journey instantly. Angel however was shot directly back through first the wall of the club and then every wall for an almost equal number of blocks to Spike. He finally came to a stop when he started to tilt to one side and was nearly cut in two by a solid metal pole that held up the loft in an apartment complex. He could only manage to cough up a bit of blood before the shock of him hitting the pole had knocked it over far enough that it could no longer support the loft and the entire loft crashed down on top of Angel, burying him under its contents.

END OF CHAPTER 33


	34. Chapter 34

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 34-THE START OF SOMETHING VERY BAD**

She stepped out onto the streets of London on her first official night as a vampire, hungry for blood. She wasn't sure exactly where to go as her sire had been inadvertently staked only a few moments after she had awoken to her new life. She watched several old men walk by and into a pub and for a moment thought about following, but then decided that their blood would not be to her liking. Even though she was not cold she zipped up her coat and made her way through the crowded streets towards a club that she had heard about shortly after arriving in London with the other new slayers. It wasn't a very large club, or seemingly very well visited, however it was just the type that she liked. She slipped into the club easily enough, mostly because it did not have a bouncer or anything of the sort. The club was unlike the Shahid Imzadi in that it only had one level but there were more lights and a dance floor that was surrounded by tables and chairs with the band up front and the bar near the door. She walked up to the bar and tried to order a drink, but the bartender behind the bar flatly refused to give her anything, that was until she reached over the bar and caught her by the throat, starting to squeeze her throat, aiming to pop her head off. In the bartenders surprise she was able to shove a bottle of something in front of Kennedy's face, hoping that she would let go, and it worked.

She let go casually and sat back down on the stool, spinning the cap off of the bottle cleanly and taking a full swig of the strong liquor, loving the feeling of it going down her throat. Her gaze filtered out onto the dance floor, watching the sweaty crowd bump and grind against each other, with the only difference being that the entire crowd was entirely female. Some of them were several years older than she was before she was turned but there were a few that seemed to have snuck in because they seemed to be a tad younger than her. Her eyes scanned the crowd for one that looked good to her, finally settling on a twenty something in the corner. She looked like she was desperately seeking a good time, as she seemed to be ready to talk to anyone that passed her by. Her dress seemingly painted on, showing off more than would likely be legal on the street outside, she kept scanning the crowd. Her raven black hair allowed to billow around her face Kennedy did not at first think of her as a meal. Kennedy slowly made her way up to the woman and was soon lost in a conversation, that would end the night with Kennedy devouring the young woman in the midst of the throes of passion.

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At about the same time that night, nearly two hours before dawn and a day after the fight, Spike regained consciousness. He found himself lying in the bed in his room with the heavy curtains closed and himself alone. He wondered how he had gotten home but when he tried to move, something that caused every square inch of his body to scream in pain, he guessed that he had been found after the blast and brought back to the mansion to recuperate. His thoughts briefly washed over wandering if Angel was okay but he could feel the faint presence of his grandsire nearby and guessed that he was up in his room with Nina taking care of him. By the scents that wafted through the room he knew that no less than ten people had been into his room that day, with Buffy's scent being the strongest followed by Dawn's and then on down the list it went. His left shoulder felt like shit, and his right one wasn't much better. He could almost feel the bruises covering his back.

"Bloody…," Spike grunted in pain as he slowly willed himself up to a seated position before the door opened and a nervous looking Katy walked in, holding a mug of steaming blood in her hands.

"Good you're up, you're a bitch to wake up you know that," Katy stated with a bored sigh as she stepped into the room and then shut the door behind her, but not before Spike saw the scared and confused gazes of a few of the new slayers that Buffy had brought with her staring back at him.

"They look like they've never seen a vamp before," Spike said with a tired smirk on his face as he glanced down and was glad that he still had his jeans on.

"Well after having the idea that all vampires are evil soulless monsters and should be dusted the second you see one drilled into their heads for weeks if not months they're still trying to come to grips with the thought of two soul having vampires that used to sleep with Buffy," Katy replied with a grin and a shrug of her shoulders as she seemed to be amused at the plight of the new slayers.

"So you know about that," Spike said with a suddenly nervous look on his face as he took the blood from Katy and looked away, inhaling deeply its scent.

"Yeah, Dawn told us while we were trying to find you and Angel after the blast, she didn't spell it out to much but if you read between the lines you got the gist of it, besides with Willow going on and on about wanting to look for her girlfriend," Katy said with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face as she half nodded her head and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"If not for Red being a friend of mine I'd let that Kennedy stay lost," Spike grumbled with an unhappy scowl on his face before he lifted the mug to his lips and took a drink.

"The only thing is…I'm not to sure that she's really…lost, more like dead," Katy said softly with a nervous smile on her face as she picked a hair off of her leg and let it float to the floor.

"Come again," Spike asked with a confused look on his face as he looked up from the mug of blood as his lips were still at the rim of the mug.

"When she left the club I saw one of the vampires knock her out and then carry her away, if we're lucky she's dead, if not…I," Katy answered with a scared pout on her face as she folded her hands onto her lap and stared up at the painting of flowers on the wall across from Spike's bed.

"If they turned her then we're all in trouble, what am I saying, unless they got a lobotomy before the fight they definitely turned her, not sure how bad a turned slayer is, besides the obvious of course," Spike said with a very grim and serious scowl on his face as he shook his head and then took another, and longer, drink from the mug.

"You're the only one that I've told about Kennedy, Willow was so stressed out about the spell and Kennedy being missing that I didn't have the heart to tell her about this, guess I got a lot to learn," Katy said with an unhappy and depressed frown on her face as she stood up a little to quickly and she squeaked slightly in pain and a hand shot down to the area of where she had been stabbed back at the club.

"You okay pet," Spike asked with a concerned edge to his voice as he pulled the mug away from his mouth and looked over at her.

"Never better…okay it's just a little sore, damn slayer healing isn't all it's cracked up to be," Katy said with a pained smile on her face as Spike could tell that she was doing her best to put a brave face forward but guessed that the spear had gone deeper than she was admitting and that each step was painful.

"You're a terrible liar you know that, look thanks for the blood but you really should let Red take a look at your leg, she could probably cast a little spell and you'd be good as new before dinner," Spike said back with a serious but not angry look on his face before Katy looked like she was going to say something back but just nodded her head in defeat and left the room.

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She had cried almost nonstop for what felt like the last few hours. At first Lorne had done his best to try and get her to calm down, but she had taken one look at him and nearly had a heart attack. It had taken him almost an hour to convince her that he wouldn't hurt her, a task that was helped a great deal when he was unintentionally spooked by a rather pesky moth. The only word that she could get out was a name; one that Lorne guessed had been more than just a friend to her. Mostly due to the fact that when she spoke the name the wave of emotion nearly knocked him out of his chair.

"Heh…uh, here drink this," Lorne said in a very soft tone of voice as he slowly approached the woman and held a small glass of water out to her. She stopped crying long enough to see what he was offering her before she feebly reached a hand out and took the glass.

"Th…," Jamie said very softly with an overwhelmed look in her eyes before she drank the water and swallowed hard.

"Don't mention it…really, now on to business, do you know who you are, where you are, how you got here," Lorne said kindly with a warm and comforting smile on his face before he started to ask his questions, pouting as she nodded her head in answer to his first question and then shook her head twice to reply to his second and third question. "Hm…I was afraid of that, well my dear you are in England, London to be more precise, I'm not exactly sure how you got here but I have a feeling that the life you knew is over," Lorne added with a tense frown on his face as he sat down on the ground near her.

"What…it can't be, it…," Jamie groaned with a panicked look on her face as she sat up in bed, pulling the blanket tightly around her as she tried in vain to keep herself fully covered.

"I'm sorry sugarpie but you have a calling, and when you're strong enough I'll find you some decent clothes and then we'll go and figure out just what that destiny of yours is," Lorne said back with a comforting and confidant smile on his face as he turned to Jamie and did his best to calm her nerves.

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"How could you not know," Wesley demanded with an irritated scowl on his face as he took the glass of whiskey that Faith handed to him and leaned back, throwing one arm over the back of the couch.

"I never actually met him and even I knew that he was no good," Faith added with a restrained hint of mockery in her voice as she sat down against Wesley and pulled his arm down around her waist. In one hand she held her own glass of whiskey while in the other hand she had the decanter of whiskey.

"It's not that simple Faith, people don't just have a big sign on their chest saying good or bad," Buffy argued with a nervous and awkward frown on her face as she sat up in her chair and leaned forward, hoping that Faith and Wesley would let the topic drop. Unfortunately for her they were like two dogs on a fresh bone.

"True B, but were you that naïve to buy every single one of his excuses as to what he did when you weren't around, you honestly thought that he was a fine upstanding citizen," Faith shot back with a sarcastic grin of disbelief on her face before she raised the glass to her mouth and took a large sip.

"Yes Faith I did, call it naïve if you want to but I just wanted to believe in someone again, believe that they were who they said they were," Buffy defended herself with an angry frown on her face as she didn't like being called naïve, a little to trusting perhaps but not naïve.

"But you knew that he was immortal, or that at least he claimed to be," Wesley shot back with a mocking chuckle as he shook his head and stared back at Buffy before he took a long drink from his glass and then had Faith refill it.

"Yes we knew, everything that he did was above the board, I made sure of it," Giles interjected with a very stern scowl on his face as he forcefully cleaned his glasses, almost to the point of breaking one of the lenses.

"You sound so sure of yourself Rupert, it's a pity really, the only reason that Wolfram and Hart would have left him alone is if they were either scared of him, something that I highly doubt, or if they had a deal with him of some kind," Wesley said back with a serious look on his face before Faith shifted in her place and unintentionally elbowed him in the ribs. Almost immediately she glanced back and up at him with a worried and apologetic look in her eyes but Wesley warded off her concerns with a confidant smile.

"He didn't have any dealings with Wolfram and Hart Wesley, he wasn't evil," Buffy snapped back with a very powerful glare on her face as she had to fight to stay seated rather than leap up and smack the smirk off of Wesley's face.

"When Angel and Spike were in Rome a few months back the head of the Wolfram and Hart branch there made absolutely no effort to give them aid against The Immortal, they're only that nice to their clients, their old rich and powerful clients," Faith interjected with an almost accusing look in her eyes and tone to her voice as she swished the whiskey around in her glass.

"And you would know this how exactly Faith," Giles asked pointedly with an accusing look of his own. Faith looked for a second like a scared child before answering.

"I did a job for them a few years back, they gave me everything that I needed to get the job done," Faith finally replied with a forced voice of calm as she intentionally avoided looking anyone in the eye. Wesley noticed this and pulled her a bit closer, hoping to dissolve her trepidation over the memory of what had happened as a result of her working for Wolfram and Hart.

"And just what did this job entail," Xander asked with a very pointed expression on his face as he sat on the back of the couch next to Buffy and crossed his arms.

"Not anything that I'm proud of, the worst time in my entire life, but that's all in the past now, I've changed," Faith said back with a somber and downcast frown on her face as she intensely studied the way that the lamp light reflected on her glass.

"So you say, I've heard the stories about you," Maria interjected with an unbelieving look on her face as she stepped out of the small crowd of new slayers to glare at Faith.

"Stories aren't always to be believed, for every person that they pass through they change just a bit to reflect that person, so by the time that you heard the stories about Faith more than likely very little of it was true," Wesley defended Faith with a very stern expression on his face as he felt Faith tense up and get ready to snap back at the young slayer.

"We all have dark periods in our pasts, crimes that we've committed that we'd rather remain forgotten in the past, as the saying goes, let he, or she in this case, that is without sin cast the first stone," Katy stated with a calm but yet very clearly defensive tone to her voice as she appeared in the doorway, leaning up against the doorframe with her arms crossed and an emotionless mask on her face. She wore a two sizes to small dark blue shirt with the name of her old strip club emblazoned across the front of it along with a pair of light blue faded blue jeans that seemed to have been molded for her body but at the same time looked very comfortable.

"You're one to talk, I don't seem to remember a stripper being one of the more desirable jobs," Rhona shot back with an angry scowl on her face as she walked up and stood next to Xander, while Vi tried to blend in behind him.

"This is all taking far to long, the bottom line here Summers is that your boyfriend is a real jerk, and you were just to trusting to see that, as for the rest of you well…your just a bunch of saps," Gwen stated with an unhappy frown on her face as she shook her head and stood up, turning away from Wesley and Faith and looking towards Giles and Buffy as she did so.

"It wasn't like that…really, it was just that all of his explanations sounded good," Dawn shot back with an awkward pout on her face as she willed herself up to a seated position to stare back at Wesley.

"The best liars always make a bold faced lie sound like the truth," Wesley countered with a sly grin on his face before he calmly nodded his head and took a sip of whiskey.

"You were a stripper," Giles asked with a stunned and surprised expression on his face as he stopped cleaning his glasses and turned and switched his gaze from studying Wesley and Faith to instead study the slayer that he knew very little about.

"Was…I still am, if I live through all of this it's what I'm going to go back to…it's the only thing that I'm good at," Katy exclaimed back with an upset and nervous look on her face as she uncrossed her arms and took a step into the living room before anyone else spoke. As she spoke the last little bit though her initially proudly defiant pose changed to one in which she had seemingly resolved herself that stripping was the only thing that she would ever be good at and that she might as well accept that now.

"Amazing," Giles muttered under his breath with a very surprised and overwhelmed look on his face as he slowly slid his glasses back onto his face.

"Wait, you ignore the truth about The Immortal for months but the fact that Katy used to twirl around a brass pole in a g-string is what surprises you," Faith interjected with a confused look of astonishment on her face as she was more than surprised at what she was hearing and seeing.

"Faith please, don't change the subject, Katy's particular career path is not the point of this discussion, the inept actions of Buffy and Giles are," Wesley whispered loudly down into Faith's ear as she calmed down and then lazily took another sip of her drink.

"It wasn't that simple, The Immortal he…he made me feel good again, needed again, like I hadn't felt since that night before the last fight when it was just me and Spike alone in the basement," Buffy said back with a defeated pout on her face as she almost looked as if she were about to tear up but she redoubled her resolve and stayed firm.

"He used that against you Buffy, he knew just what you needed to hear and led you along like a pet, you weren't to important to him, he used you as a prize to show off to everyone else, he got the slayer," A very weak and beaten up Angel said softly from the doorway with Nina doing her best to hold him up.

"Angel," Buffy exclaimed with a worried look on her face as she instantly jumped up out of her seat and started to rush over to him but stopped halfway as she was unsure of whether or not she should.

"I'm fine, just gimme a few days and I'll be good as new," Angel replied with a weak smile on his face as he and Nina struggled over to the nearest chair before he sat down hard in it and wrapped the blanket tightly around him, with Nina sitting on the armrest, her hand never leaving his shoulder.

"You sure that you're okay Angel, you're looking pretty pale, and that's saying something for you," Faith asked with an almost amused smirk on her face as she mock saluted him with her glass of whiskey.

"I'll be fine Faith, David has enough blood in stock and Nina will take care of everything else so I'll be fine, I just need time," Angel replied with a generous glint in his eyes as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"What about Spike," Xander asked with an unconcerned look on his face as it seemed that he was interested in Spike's condition, but not for himself.

"I'll be fine once you shut the hell up," A very weak and injured looking Spike said as he slowly made his way into the living room, past Buffy without looking her way, and sat down on the couch next to Dawn, who looked completely ready to fuss over him.

END OF CHAPTER 34


	35. Getting To Know You

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Michelle, Katy, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 35-GETTING TO KNOW YOU**

"You were really a stripper," Vi asked with a stunned look on her face and a quiet tone of voice later on as she hesitantly approached Katy, who had slid an icepack down in-between her panties and her skin until it reached the spot where the guards spear had struck her.

"Huh, oh yeah, dancing around a stage in nothing but my birthday suit," Katy mumbled back, a tad sleepily, as she glanced up from her chair as she was engrossed in reading one of the few books in David's library that was completely in Russian. She had slouched down into a comfortable chair by an old lamp an hour earlier and at first hadn't heard the meeker slayer approaching.

"Weren't you scared," Vi asked back with a nervous and scared look on her face as Katy could see the wheels turning in the other slayers head at how she would feel if she were the one up on stage. By the look in her eyes Katy could tell that the thought terrified Vi.

"Actually I don't think that I've ever felt more free then when I dance, it doesn't matter that I am naked or that drunk and horny men wanted to do things to me that aren't in the Karma Sutra, I am on a plane unto myself, a plane where nothing can touch me, I am at peace," Katy said back with a happily nostalgic smile on her face as she remembered back onto happier times as Vi looked on in wonder.

"Did anyone ever try anything," Maria asked softly as she closed the old book that she had been passively flipping through.

"Nothing that the bouncers couldn't handle, at least until Illyria came and the vampires attacked me, right in the middle of my routine to," Katy replied with a light shrug of her shoulders before she laid the book down on the floor in front of the chair and sat up straight.

"Ever think about going to college, my desk at home was covered with college brochures before Mr. Giles called and talked to my parents," Maria said back with a calm look on her face as she reached over and picked up her mug of tea.

"I did, but they were all to expensive, I barely made enough at my old job to keep a roof over my head, with stripping I was able to get a better place, a car, and actually start to save some money, dreams of college quickly went away after that," Katy replied calmly with a slightly pained look on her face before she laid back in her chair and stared at the old lamp that set on the table beside her.

"What if someone paid for your classes, would you go then," Vi asked with an interested look on her face as she seemed to perk up a bit. Katy looked ready to answer immediately but stopped and then put more thought into it before saying anything.

"I might, I just don't have a clue what my major would be, my grades weren't exactly perfect in high school," Katy finally said with an unsure and pensive expression on her face as she struck a thoughtful pose.

"Well then maybe you should think about," Maria began to say with a subtle smile on her face as she set her cup of tea back down onto the table.

"Stop right there, don't even think about it, I may not have seen as much as the two of you but I've seen enough to know that I don't belong with Mr. Giles and Buffy and the others, I'm my own person, an individual, and not like the rest of you…," Katy said back with a kind but yet very stern and unwavering tone to her voice as she sat up in her chair and then pulled the icepack out of her pants.

"Like the rest of us what," Maria asked, becoming a bit perturbed at how Katy had finished off her answer.

"I don't know exactly, it's just that all of you slayers that came with Buffy and Mr. Giles seem to be not much more than a bunch of trained attack dogs, you have to clear everything with them, I wouldn't…couldn't live like that" Katy said back with a certain and unwavering tone to her voice before she set her jaw and rose from her chair, heading for the kitchen as the ice had melted in the icepack.

"That's not how it is, Mr. Giles is a wise man, he wouldn't have us do anything unless it was in our best interest," Maria declared with a slowly growing pit of anger in her as she stood up and seemed ready to confront Katy when Dawn interjected.

"I'm sorry Maria but he would and he has, he knew that Angel and the others were in trouble in LA and that they asked…practically begged for his help but he let his own fears get the better of him and he turned a deaf ear, if he hadn't then perhaps we could have stopped Wolfram and Hart then and there instead of what we're doing now," Dawn interjected with a very serious expression on her face as she slowly walked into the room, carrying one mug of warm blood and another of what looked like hot chocolate. Behind her Spike slowly and stiffly walked in with a thick blanket wrapped around him as his bruises were just beginning to heal.

"Bit's right, we could have stopped it all back then, now we have to fight yet again, even though the spell worked at the portals will stay closed Wolfram and Hart aren't just going to let us walk away, then there's the Initiative that'll probably want us dead, add in that we have to stop the army of vampires that came in as part of Angel's plan, and we're looking at hard days ahead," Spike added softly with a ruefully sarcastic expression on his face as he walked over and sat down at one end of the couch before Dawn handed him the mug of blood and then sat down beside him.

"So you believe them," Maria asked with a surprised and confused look on her face as she turned in her chair and looked over at Dawn and Spike.

"Yes Maria, I do, I've seen what Giles' pride has cost them, and no matter what it takes I'm going to make sure that his mistake doesn't doom us all," Dawn replied calmly with an emotionless look on her face, though because of his enhanced senses Spike could sense that she was a jumble of emotions, before she raised her mug of hot chocolate to her lips and took a small sip.

"What mistake would that be," Vi asked with a scared and timid look on her face as she tensed up, as if it were a reflex.

"When a very good human friend of mine was dying a while back Angel called Giles and asked him for help, damn near begged him for help, but instead of helping Giles kept putting him on hold, hoping that he'd get the message and hang up, and because of that my friend died shortly afterwards," Spike said with a great amount of scorn in his voice as he forced himself to stay calm while calmly sipping from his mug.

"But she was evil…right, I mean she had to be evil if Mr. Giles wouldn't help her," Maria asked with a bit of timidity in her voice as she seemed to have backed down a bit from not thinking to highly of Angel and Spike and their friends.

"Fred was the furthest from evil that a person could get, there wasn't an evil bone in her body, she didn't deserve to die like that…no one does, she suffered before she died, and for that I will never forgive Rupert no matter what excuse he comes up with," Spike answered with such an amount of honesty in his voice that Maria couldn't help but come to the conclusion that he was telling her the truth and that her preconceived notions about him and the others were wrong. As per her usual when she was nervous and felt like a complete idiot instead of apologizing straight out Maria looked away and began to awkwardly pick at her cuticles. Spike glanced up at her from the brim of his mug and for the first time noticed that aside from the obvious differences between the two they could almost be sisters.

"I don't understand, how could he do that…turn his back on you…when he knew what it would mean," Maria asked softly, almost begging for an answer that would right her world again, as she shook her head and tried her best not to tear up and further embarrass herself.

"He probably thought that Angel was lying, trying to trick him into something," Spike said back softly with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he tried to lean further back in his seat.

"Why would he think that," Maria asked with a completely overwhelmed and confused look of panic on her face as Spike could tell that she was trying to make everything right again in her head but was having a terrible time at it.

"Because Angel killed the woman that he loved several years ago, Rupert's never forgiven him for it," Dawn sadly answered as she cast her gaze down to the floor before she pulled her mug close and took a long slow sip.

"Of course it should probably be said that when he killed Rupert's love he didn't have his soul, and before you ask he lost it when he experienced a moment of true happiness with Buffy, though it'd probably be best if you didn't mention it," Spike said with a seemingly bored silly look on his face as he leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling.

"A moment of true…," Vi started to wonder softly aloud with a deep in thought look on her face before Maria clamped a hand over her mouth and whispered what it meant into her ear. Spike couldn't help but snicker when he looked down and saw the look on Vi's face as Maria's words clicked in her mind.

"There you are," Buffy said with a tired and nervous expression on her face as she leaned into the room and noticed Angel sitting quietly in an old chair beside a window, pulled over just far enough to stay out of the light that beamed in through the large window nearby.

"Go away," Angel said sternly without moving any more muscles that absolutely necessary to speak as he kept staring out of the window.

"Sorry, but you can't tell me what to do," Buffy snapped back with a slightly arrogant smirk on her face as she walked into the room and shut the door behind her.

"Since when," Angel grumbled back with an annoyed scowl on his face as he shifted his weight a bit in his chair and picked a pad of drawing paper up off of the nearby table.

"Since you took charge of Wolfram and Hart," Buffy stated back, as if completely unaffected by his question as she made her way across the room before finally pulling a small chair up into the light and sitting in it.

"I had a good reason for that, I wouldn't expect you to understand," Angel calmly stated back as he flipped over the cover of the pad of drawing paper and picked up a pencil.

"Try me," Buffy stated back quickly with an interested smile on her face as she turned in the seat until she was facing Angel.

"I did it to save my son…you've met him, I agree to take control of Wolfram and Hart and they give him a good life, one where he doesn't remember me or anything except for the life that they constructed for him, I had to do it," Angel replied with a saddened expression on his face as he shook his head as he remembered somber events of days past.

"Let me guess, they betrayed you and turned him into a killing machine," Buffy joked with a half smile on her face as she sat back up in her chair.

"He was that before…no they kept their word, everything worked out fine until Saijhan came back into the picture," Angel started to reply softly at first before he scowled at the name of the now dead demon and he then angrily balled up the first page of the drawing pad and threw it onto the floor.

"Who's he," Buffy asked with an interested look on her face as she scooted the chair a bit closer to Angel.

"He was a very powerful demon, a demon with a grudge, and the ability to slip into any dimension that he wanted to with ease," Angel replied with a distant look on his face as he began to scribble out the outline of another face.

"So he tried to kill Connor, he tried to kill your son, and you stopped him," Buffy stated with a proud smile on her face before Angel stepped in.

"No, Connor killed him, I tried to keep Connor as far away from Wolfram and Hart as I could, but somehow my past indiscretions have a way of coming back to bite me in the ass," Angel snapped back with a slowly growing feeling of anger before he forced himself to calm down.

"I would have come Angel, had I known what was really going on," Buffy said in a soft voice as she decided to change the subject to try and keep Angel as calm and talkative as was possible at the moment.

"No you wouldn't have…that's probably what hurts the most," Angel said softly with a very serious look on his face and hurt to his voice before he closed the pad of drawing paper, stood up, and then left the room, leaving a stunned Buffy with tears forming in her eyes.

"How about this one," Lorne said with a concerned look on his face as he tossed a shirt onto the small bed while Jamie looked on, still clutching the blanket tightly around herself.

"No…it's to small," Jamie said with a slightly frustrated look on her face as she shook her head and gazed down at the small collection of clothes that Lorne had hastily bought with what little money he had left.

"What to some is a blessing to others is a curse eh," Lorne said with a whimsical smile on his face as Jamie started to ask him what he meant but a second before she opened her mouth she realized what he meant and couldn't help but grin back.

"These look like they'll fit," Jamie said a little bit later as she pulled a top and a bottom from the pile and then slipped off around the corner to change. She slowly walked back around the corner a few moments later, finally fully clothed though the clothes just barely fit given Jamie's proportions.

"Well they're not perfect but they'll do," Lorne said with a satisfied expression on his face as he looked Jamie over and then nodded his head.

"We need to find your friends, maybe they can tell me why I don't remember the last few days," Jamie said with a hopeful but fearful smile on her face as she laid the blanket down onto the ground and looked back up at Lorne.

"I don't know if you'll like their answers Jamie, but one thing that I can tell you, we need to get out of here now and find them before anyone finds us, but don't worry, Angel will know what to do," Lorne answered with an optimistic frown on his face as he clapped her on the shoulder and directed her towards the door.

"He's a vampire with a soul right, a good vampire," Jamie asked with a worried and still slightly confused look on her face as she pushed open the door and the two stepped out into the sunlight.

"Right, but don't forget about Spike, he has a soul to…," Lorne started to answer with a tired look on his face before a cab pulled up beside them. Lorne started to wave the driver off before he recognized the person sitting beside the driver.

"Lorne," Willow announced with a very surprised look on her face before she shout out of the car and stopped just short of hugging him as she caught sight of Jamie.

"Oh happy days are here again, we're saved," Lorne exclaimed with an excited and relieved look on his face as he clapped his hands together before Jamie spoke up.

"Why are you looking at me like that," Jamie asked with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as Willow unintentionally continued to glare angrily at her.

"Don't play dumb with me Illyria, you can play whatever game you want but I'm not buying it, you killed Fred and…," Willow started to reply with a frustrated and impatient scowl on her face before Lorne stepped in.

"This isn't Illyria…at least not anymore, somehow the person that Illyria took over after the battle with Wolfram and Hart is back…don't ask me how, I found her in the rubble next to the club where you all were, found Buffy's boyfriend there to…except he wasn't as fortunate," Lorne interjected with a cautious look on his face as he stepped in between the two women and hoped that both would stay calm.

"Are you sure, Illyria has lied to us before," Willow stated confidently, still keeping her glare aimed at Jamie, who was busy desperately trying to think if she had met Willow before and what wrong she could have committed during that meeting.

"And who knows, maybe we'll be lucky enough that she'll lie to us again, but this ain't her, this is Jamie, Katy's friend…you know her right," Lorne said with a hopeful smile on his face as he sensed that Willow was beginning to calm down and eased out from in between the two.

"Katy's here…is she…okay," Jamie pleaded with an almost frantic expression on her face as she stepped forward and looked back and forth between Willow and Lorne.

"She's back at David's mansion with the others, she got hurt during the fight at the club but with her slaying healing she should be fine in no time," Willow replied with a slightly flustered tone to her voice as her eyes told her that she was talking to Illyria, however her magical senses were telling her an entirely different story. A wave of relief, excitement, and fear ran through Jamie's body at finding out that her best friend, after Holly, was still alive.

"Can I see her," Jamie asked timidly with a worried look on her face, as she seemed to calm down a bit as Willow stopped glaring at her.

"Of course you can, right Willow," Lorne said with a warm and happy smile on his face as he put an arm around Jamie and turned back to Willow.

"Sure…the more the merrier right," Willow said with an odd smile on her face before she turned and walked back to the cab, with Lorne and Jamie just behind her.

END OF CHAPTER 35


	36. Plans Are Made

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 36-PLANS ARE MADE**

"Do you think that Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative know where we are," Faith asked with a slightly nervous expression on her face as she stood at the window looking out, hairbrush in one hand and wearing one of Wesley's shirts after having taken a warm shower.

"If they don't now they will very soon," Wesley replied with a concerned edge to his voice as he stepped out of the shower and picked up a towel.

"What do you mean," Faith asked with a distant look on her face as she kept staring out of the window while beginning to comb through her still wet hair.

"Well if there's one thing that neither Wolfram and Hart or The Initiative likes is losing, and when they lose they do everything in their power to rectify that, and David has made not effort to conceal that he owns this building and as soon as they find out that Angel Investigations did a job for David Nabbit several years ago they'll come for us," Wesley replied softly as he left his first towel around his shoulders and wrapped the second towel around his waist before leaving the bathroom.

"So in other words what you're saying is that we're screwed, or soon will be," Faith joked with a sadly sly smirk on her face as she turned away from the window and watched Wesley walk over in front of the fan and start to dry his hair.

"Unless we can figure out a way to get them off of our backs…yes," Wesley replied with a somber frown on his face as he stopped drying his hair long enough to look back at Faith as she took a step towards him.

"Do you think that we can trust B and Giles," Faith asked more pointedly with an unconvinced expression on her face as she walked a little closer to Wesley until she was able to grab the towel around Wesley's waist and pull it off, a sly smirk widening at the momentary glare that crossed his face.

"Not yet, though we all want a peaceful outcome to all of this I believe that Giles does not want Angel or any of us to be the one that comes up with the plan," Wesley replied with a daring look in his eyes before he turned around and leaned over to kiss Faith fully on the lips.

"How did I know that you were going to say that," Faith whispered back softly after they broke the kiss.

"Because you know Buffy and Giles well enough to know that Buffy will want to come up with the plan herself and like I said Giles will have a hard time following any plan of Angel's," Wesley whispered back to Faith as his left hand slid up the outside of her thigh and underneath her shirt.

"Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky this time and Buffy will learn to follow orders and Giles will stop being such a prick," Faith whispered back with a sly grin on her face as she stopped brushing her hair and let the brush fall to the floor.

"And maybe Andrew will actually grow a backbone," Wesley snickered back with an almost goofy grin on his face as his hand continued to move underneath her shirt, with his thumb tickling her ribs on the way up.

"Good point," Faith shot back with an amused pout on her face before she stepped back from Wesley just enough to pull the shirt off and toss it to the side. The rest of the night the two were lost in each other.

"Have you figured out how we're going to do this without getting everyone killed," Spike asked with a very serious, though not mocking, tone to his voice as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

"Would it surprise you if I said that I don't have a clue what to do," Angel replied softly with a question with a serious smirk on his face as he turned away from the window only slightly. Katy and Jamie were down taking a walk in the courtyard with a very tense Willow trying to do a locator spell to find Kennedy while sitting on one of the park benches.

"Surprise me…no, not really, though you might want to keep this little tidbit of info to yourself, if Rupert found out he'd try to use that to get himself put into place to be the one to plan the attack," Spike replied calmly with purpose to his casual step as he made his way across the room to stand beside Angel at the window.

"Good idea…though I still haven't figured out what happened to Illyria…and how this host is still alive, at least Katy spirits seem to have lifted since Willow came back," Angel replied with a slight nod of his head as he turned back to the window and half smiled as he watched Katy and Jamie walk past Willow.

"With a certain green empath demon in tow remember," Spike reminded him with a subtle smirk on his face as he slipped his hands into his pockets.

"Lorne said that he didn't want any of us from our group out looking for him, I said that we wouldn't and I kept my word, Willow found him," Angel said back with a slightly defensive tone to his voice as he kept his gaze on the courtyard below.

"So that let's you off the hook then," Spike chimed in with a sly grin on his face as he turned to Angel.

"That's the idea," Angel huffed out in a slight shrug of his shoulders as he turned away from the window and took a few steps back into the room.

"Are you going to let Buffy and Rupert help or are we going to come up with the plan ourselves," Spike asked with a useless deep breath as he fished around in his pocket for a cigarette.

"I'll tell them the plan once we think of it Spike, but I'm betting that Giles has already begun to formulate his own plan, we just need to get one of our own done first, before he has a chance to convince anyone," Angel replied with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he pulled a table out into the center of the room and then pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Should we be out looking for Kennedy or worry about her later," Spike asked softly with a casual tone to his voice as he pulled up a chair and sat down, propping his feet up on the top of the table.

"No, from what you told be about what Katy said I think that the next time that we see Kennedy we'll need to stake her, unless the vampires that took her are complete idiots they will have more than turned her by now," Angel said back with a very unhappy and somber frown on his face as he shook his head at his misfortune.

"We should probably have Buffy tell Willow about that then, as to the plan we should probably try and find the London branch of Wolfram and Hart and make the fight be held there instead of on David's doorstep," Spike added with a thoughtful look on his face as he finally fished out a cigarette and then groaned as he couldn't find a lighter.

"David has done more than enough for us, we've asked to much of him already, we have to make sure that when this is all over that no one can connect him to us," Angel said with a very serious and almost regretful look on his face as he shook his head and pulled out a pad of paper and began to sketch a rough outline of the city of London.

"Either that or make sure that he's on the first plane out of here afterwards," Spike chimed in with an amused smirk on his face before his countenance soured at the sight of Angel's scowl. "But putting aside the theatrics I think that we should try to keep the fight away from the more populated areas, the last thing that we need is to give either side something to use as a shield against us," Spike added with a serious and slightly nervous tone to his voice as he watched Angel continue to sketch out the city.

"That's going to be hard Spike, because that's exactly what they're going to want, they'll throw everything that they have at us, with the firm intent on pushing us towards the people, they're not going to fight us in abandoned buildings and out in the open, they're going to try to make this as painful and bloody as possible," Angel declared with a very grim and serious expression on his face as he started to write in the various sections of the city and add little icons as to where he expected the various enemy camps to be located.

"Even though The Initiative boys don't want anyone to know that they exist," Spike countered with an unsure look on his face as he impatiently jammed the cigarette back into one of his pockets, saving it for later.

"We should try and use that to our advantage, we have to see just how far they'll go to keep their identity a secret from the outside world, if we're lucky they could even help us," Angel said with a very grim and serious look on his face as he and Spike stared down at the map on the table.

"Sorry mate but I don't really see that happening anytime this century," Spike quipped with a sarcastic frown on his face as he started to go over a few scenarios in his head.

"If we can get something concrete on them then maybe we can blackmail them with it," Angel wondered aloud with a deep in thought expression on his face as he leaned back in his chair and stared back out of the window.

"So basically play the old help us or we'll expose you ploy…it could work, except that we don't actually have anything on The Initiative," Spike shot back with a depressed tone to his voice as he rued that he did not have a lighter.

"Actually Spike…we do, I nicked this from Riley just before he died, it's a miniature code book, it has all of their frequencies and passwords, hopefully with this Willow will be able to crack their systems and get us enough dirt on them that they'll have to help us," Angel answered with a sly grin on his face as he pulled a small book out of his pocket and showed Spike a few of the pages.

"Either that or they'll just kill us all and take it all back," Spike grumbled with an unsure frown on his face as he shook his head before he and Angel really got down to planning their strategy.

"Do you trust them Giles," Xander asked with a nervous frown on his face as David and Dawn left the room, leaving for one of the other living rooms to watch a movie with several of the new slayers that Buffy had brought with her.

"I want to say yes Xander, but I can't, I'm still not sure that they are not being controlled, monitored, or in collusion with some entity within Wolfram and Hart," Giles replied with a nervous and upset frown on his face as he shook his head.

"Paranoid much," Rhona muttered under her breath with a poorly veiled look of surprise on her face as she glanced up from the newspaper that she was browsing.

"In this business Rhona, one has to be," Giles replied with an unhappy frown on his face as he shook his head and then turned to Buffy.

"I don't think that either one of them is evil Giles, Angel seems to be more angry at us than anything else, and Spike…well we really haven't had a chance to really talk yet so," Buffy replied with a nervous and sad look on her face as she sank back into her chair and looked at the table in front of her.

"But Buff, both of them have lied to us…to you before, what makes you think that this time will be any different," Xander questioned with a serious and unconvinced scowl on his face as he ran his finger along the rim of his glass.

"I know Xander, and they may be lying to me now to…but this time Angel doesn't seem to be out for himself, he seems to be trying to get out of the fight," Buffy replied with a slightly unsure look on her face as she shifted her position in her chair and silently wondered if she was sitting in an overly large chair or if she was truly that small.

"That's possible, however Buffy I think that we should not discount the possibility that Angel is merely lulling us into a false sense of security," Giles started to say with a skeptical tone to his voice as he straightened his glasses on his face before Buffy broke in.

"Not discount…false sense…Giles do you hear yourself, this is exactly the line of thinking that got us into this mess in the first place, if we had trusted Angel back then Fred would still be alive, Wesley wouldn't have died, and we probably wouldn't even be here," Buffy interjected with a sour expression on her face as she dropped her head into her hands and ran her hands through her hair in frustration.

"That's possible Buffy, however until we know for sure that they are being truthful it would not be wise to put all of our faith in Angel and Spike's hands," Giles replied with an uncomfortable look on his face as he glanced over the many pages of data that lay in front of him on the coffee table.

"Would it help any if I said that you can trust them," A bored voice said from across the room before Buffy, Giles, and Xander turned quickly around to see Whistler standing casually in the doorway.

"Whistler," Xander exclaimed with a surprised look on his face as he snapped his gaze first to Buffy and then to Giles, silently asking if it was good that he could see the demon.

"That's me kid, look guys this infighting and squabbling isn't going to help anyone, all of you have to trust that Angel knows what he's doing and that he and Spike are not in league with Wolfram and Hart, because if they were then I would know, and right now those two are numbers one and two on the hit list, The Initiative boys would like to get their hands on them as well," Whistler said with a very serious but casually serious tone to his voice as he walked into the room and sat on the couch beside Giles before reclining and placing his feet up onto the coffee table, right on top of some of Giles' papers.

"The Initiative, why would they want Angel and Spike," Xander asked with a confused look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and turned to Whistler.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because they used the Finn's to complete Willow's spell and close the portals," Whistler answered with a calm expression on his face as he seemed to ignore the daggers that Giles was glaring at him for putting his feet on his papers.

"Riley…Sam, but they…Angel," Buffy started to say with a very worried and confused edge to her voice as she sat up straight in her chair before she remembered what Willow had told her about the spell. The shout that came next startled everyone that was still awake in the house and no one got in Buffy's way as she stormed up the steps towards the room where Angel and Spike were almost done formulating a plan.

"Can I ask you something," Maria asked softly with a very nervous look on her face as she followed Katy slowly down the hallway.

"Sure," Katy replied with a tired yawn as she shrugged her shoulders and stopped at the doorway to the study.

"Do you…do you miss your family," Maria asked with a serious and sad look on her face as the two slowly walked into the study and turned on a couple of lights.

"Not really…I got passed around a lot when I was a kid, I never lived with any of my relatives for to long, my parents were very poor and coming to the States was supposed to be my big break, honestly I never expected to support myself by stripping but I have no regrets," Katy replied with a tired but serious look on her face as she slipped into the first comfortable chair that she could find.

"That doesn't sound like much fun," Maria stated aloud with a sympathetic look on her face as she found a place to sit and sat down, staring sadly off into space.

"It wasn't, but I didn't know anything else so it was normal for me, if all of this going somewhere or did you just want to get me alone," Katy replied softly at first with a carefree shrug of her shoulders before she arched an eyebrow and winked sexily at Maria, who at first didn't notice the gesture before when she did she looked like she was about ready to say something curt in reply but managed to stop herself.

"I haven't seen my parents in almost a year, at first I thought that it'd be a blast, getting far away from them and my brothers and sisters, but a phone call here and a lone email there isn't as good as I thought that it would be," Maria replied with a lonely and sad look in her eyes as she slumped back in her seat and stared at the scrollwork of the armrests of the chair that she was sitting in.

"Oh I see…you're homesick," Katy said with a subtle smirk on her face as she tried to keep her voice from being any more ribbing that it was.

"A little, it's just that my family was close before I got that letter from Mr. Giles, I missed one of my brother's wedding and my mother spent the night in the hospital…I don't know, I guess it just kind of puts my whole wanting to go to college in a new light, at first I was going to attend the school the furthest away from home, but now I'm thinking that maybe I should rethink that strategy and go somewhere closer to home," Maria countered with a nervous and sad tone to her voice as she reached out and trailed her fingers over the edge of the armrest.

"What do your parents do for a living," Katy asked softly with an interested smile on her face as she felt that she needed to shift the subject of their discussion just a bit.

"My father is an English Professor at the University of Miami and my mother is a lawyer," Maria replied with only a small amount of pride in her voice though Katy could see plenty of it in her eyes.

"Whoa…you must have had every college in the country after you," Katy exclaimed with an amazed look on her face as she straightened up in her chair a bit.

"Almost," Maria replied with an embarrassed smile on her face as she shrugged her shoulders and stared up at one of the pictures on the wall.

"Guess it was probably hard for you to turn all of them down to study with Buffy and Giles," Katy added with a bored look on her face as she turned back to look across the room at Maria.

"Very…well some more than others, my parents were really pushing me to go to Miami but I didn't want to always be in my fathers shadow and constantly be around people that only see me as his little girl, I got enough of that whenever he had friends over, they'd always ask me where I was going to go to school and if I wanted to be in my father's classes…God that got annoying," Maria groaned loudly as she rolled her eyes and flopped back in her seat before a sly grin spread across her face. It grew until she couldn't control her mirth and soon she began to laugh openly. At first Katy thought that perhaps she had gone off the deep end but then she found herself joining in the laughter and the two continued until there was tears in their eyes.

She snapped his neck and let his body slide to the floor. She had taken her first childe out onto the town to acclimate her to the ways of being a vampire. She had initially wanted to use the woman that she had picked up in the bar but had decided against it and instead allowed her to burn up when the first few rays of sunlight had streamed into the bedroom. She had found her first childe, a few hours later, sitting alone in a pub having a drink before rushing off to her first class. She was a college student that had paid for her tuition by letting a photographer friend of hers take a few pictures of her in the buff. To keep her identity, and to stay away from the ire of her parents, she had made sure that her face was always obstructed in the photos. Kennedy had at first tried to strike up a conversation with the young woman, after staring at her for several minutes from across the pub, but had been ignored. Feeling slighted Kennedy waited until the young woman got up and went to the bathroom. She followed her into the restroom and waited outside of her stall until the woman was done. When she opened the stall door Kennedy struck, twisting her arm back around until she could draw the woman's neck close enough to bite. The young woman let out a soft shriek as Kennedy dove her fangs into her neck. She decided to name her childe Scarlet.

END OF CHAPTER 36


	37. Beginnings Of An Attraction

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Maria.**

**CHAPTER 37-BEGINNINGS OF AN ATTRACTION**

"So what made you switch sides Faith," Buffy asked with a curious tone to her voice as she carefully pulled her cup of tea out of the microwave and then shut the door.

"Oddly enough B…the truth," Faith calmly replied with a half shrug of her shoulders as she held back a cocky smile while peeling a banana.

"The truth…really, and just whose truth would that be," Buffy asked with an unconvinced look on her face as she walked over and sat down at the table.

"The truth doesn't belong to anyone B, it's just there, open to everyone who wants to see it, it just took me a little longer that's all," Faith answered calmly with a relaxed look on her face before she stuffed half of the banana into her mouth.

"So then oh wise one, what's the truth," Buffy wondered back with a not amused look on her face before she blew the steam away from her tea.

"The truth is that Angel and the others tried to do what they thought was right, and when they asked for help you and Giles turned a deaf ear and played the to high and mighty card," Faith replied with a slightly accusatory tone to her voice after she swallowed hard and peeled back some more of the banana.

"Hey sister, Giles pulled the high and mighty…we didn't know that Angel was telling the truth, if we had then of course we would have been there to help him, we would have been there in a heartbeat," Buffy shot back with a defensive and slightly angry expression on her face as she set her cup of tea down onto the table, careful not to slosh any over the side and burn her hand.

"Keep telling yourself that long enough B…and ya just might start to believe it, you had everything that you wanted and didn't want to be bothered with Angel's problems," Faith softly said back with a sarcastic smirk on her face before she stood up and went to throw the banana peel away.

"Oh really…and what about you, you could just as easily have gone to LA to help Angel when he was in trouble, but you didn't, you stayed in Rome," Buffy declared with a proud of herself look on her face as she half turned in her chair to pointedly look across the room at Faith.

"You're right…I didn't help him, I stayed in Rome all safe and sound, but only because I didn't know about it…and because of that Wesley died, I'm just lucky that I got a second chance with him," Faith replied with an almost self-mocking chuckle as she made her way over to the refrigerator.

"Speaking of which…how'd that happen, you and Wesley, how'd the two of you hook up, you two don't look like a perfect couple at first glance," Buffy asked with a sly grin on her face as she turned back around to her cup of tea and took a small sip. Faith tried to stay calm and look impassive but couldn't help it and her mouth broke into a sly smirk before she answered.

"Once I fully figure that out B…I'll tell you, all that I can say for sure is that I like where I am in my life and no one had better even try and disrupt that," Faith replied softly with a very determined and serious look on her face as she pulled a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and began to look around for a corkscrew.

"Don't you think that you've had enough of that lately Faith," Buffy said back with a delicately serious look on her face as she nodded her head towards the bottle of wine. Faith stopped her search and glanced down briefly at the bottle of wine before she looked up and replied.

"Thanks for trying to look out for me and all B but…actually since Wes and I hooked up I've drank less and have been able to keep from snapping at people as much, hell I'm not even as sarcastic as I used to be," Faith said with a restrained smile on her face as she pushed aside a still wet dish and found the corkscrew.

"Well…looks like Wesley's done something that no one else has ever come close to…domesticating the rogue slayer," Buffy shot back with a sly grin on her face and a raised eyebrow as she brought her cup of tea up to her lips.

"Stop right there, the day that I ever become domesticated I'll kill myself," Faith said with a very serious, determined, and proud look on her face even though Buffy could see from the look in her eyes that her determination to do just that was not as strong as it had been in the past.

"Is that a promise," Buffy joked with an impish grin on her face before she took a sip of her tea and tried to keep from laughing openly.

"You'd like that wouldn't you, get rid of a little competition," Faith said with a slightly angry edge to her voice as she walked towards the table.

"We're not in a competition here Faith, Wesley is yours…and fairly won, as for me I," Buffy said with an easy shrug of her shoulders as she looked up at Faith.

"Am trying to figure out whether or not you and Spike still have a chance to be together while not trying to appear jealous about Angel and Nina," Faith interjected with a sly grin on her face and an innuendo laden tone of voice as she passed Buffy by and went to the cupboard to get a couple of wine glasses.

"No…it's not like that," Buffy said back with a defensive and somewhat embarrassed tone to her voice as she covered her mouth with the rim of the mug.

"Oh really, you've always been wiggy when it comes to relationships B, as long as I've known you you've gone through guys almost as quickly as I have, and that's saying something," Faith said back with a cheesy grin on her face as she reached up into a cupboard and pulled out a couple of wine glasses.

"I have not, I've just been more than unlucky in love, and I'm not the only slayer with love problems here Faith, how many times have you been in love in your lifetime," Buffy came back sharply with a hurt look on her face before she calmed down and shot a pointed question straight at Faith, who almost dropped the two glasses in surprise at Buffy's question.

"Once…look B, I should get going," Faith replied softly with an eerily scared look on her face before she shuffled out of the kitchen, leaving Buffy to ponder in silence what had caused Faith's sudden change in attitude.

"Getting a little sun there Lorne," Spike said with a calm and relaxed smile on his face as he leaned up against the stone pillar in the shadowy portion of the backyard.

"I'm trying…though I'm not sure that it's doing any good," Lorne said back with a sad sigh as his shoulders slumped a bit and he carefully checked out a small cut on his chin in a handheld mirror.

"It's not that bad Lorne, you're still the handsomest demon that I know…of course you're also the only demon that I know but," Jamie said with a nervous smile on her face as she scooted down the bench just a bit, slightly further away from Spike than she had been at first. Even though she had learned a lot since waking up naked in the alley she was still a bit unnerved about having a vampire so close to her.

"Easy pet, I'm not going to bite you, if I had wanted to do that I would have done it while you were sleeping," Spike said with a comforting smile on his face as he shifted his weight a bit to avoid a stray stream of sunlight as after staring up at Spike for a bit she scooted back over to her original spot.

"Thanks for the support buttercup but this life has never been kind to me, why should now be any different," Lorne said with a somber and dejected tone to his voice as he shook his head and stared out over the lawn at two small birds that were fighting over a small twig.

"Perhaps because you're surrounded by friends," Jamie offered up with a fearfully hopeful look on her face as she pushed the strap of her tank top over a bit so that she could get a better tan as she leaned forward and away from Spike. She had only been at David's house for a day and so far she was the only one that had found it hard to find something that would fit correctly without making her look like she was trying to draw attention to her overly curvaceous body. At times like this she regretted having gotten breast implants three years earlier. She had very nearly gone bankrupt in getting them but afterwards she had found that work was much easier to find. She had always been physically fit and been admired for her body except that she had not been particularly blessed in one certain department. She and Holly had met a few days later and had been together ever since, at least until that day in the club. Now her most pressing problems were keeping Andrew and David's eyes in their heads when she walked by or bent over to pick something up.

"I was surrounded by friends back in LA sugarplum, and that didn't do any good, I'm afraid that this time I won't be so lucky, this just might be the end for me," Lorne said with an exasperated and saddened expression on his face as out of the corner of his eye he saw Willow standing beside one of the trees out in the yard, staring intently at Jamie. But then she caught Lorne's gaze and quickly blushed a deep red and turned away, hurrying off out of sight. "Did you," Lorne asked softly with a confused and curious edge to his voice as he turned back and looked up quickly at Spike and Jamie before turning back to where Willow had been.

"Been acting odd lately, pretty much ever since she found you two, first she didn't want anything to do with her…but now," Spike interjected with a curious expression on his face as he fished a stolen match out of his pocket and after pulling his only cigarette out of his pocket he lit it and inhaled deeply.

"This is all so confusing," Lorne said with a perplexed expression on his face as he shook his head and glanced back to where he had last seen Willow.

"You think that's confusing, earlier today when I was taking a shower I slipped and when I reached out for something to break my fall I grabbed the railing that they put in and I ripped it right out of the wall, got a nasty bruise on my ass to," Jamie added with a confused look on her face before Spike leaned down a bit and spoke up.

"It was probably not put in right pet, happens all of the time," Spike interjected with a small chuckle before he stood fully back up and inhaled another puff.

"Okay maybe, but then how do you explain the other things," Jamie questioned with a worried and frustrated look on her face as she spun back around and set her feet down on the other side of the bench.

"What other things," Lorne asked with a concerned look on his face as he leant down and picked a small yellow flower.

"Yesterday I accidentally cut my elbow on the edge of one of the flowerbeds, and today it's completely gone, like it never existed, and now I can faintly hear what Andrew and David are talking about in the kitchen, they have dirty minds," Jamie replied with a nervous and upset look on her face as she looked back and forth between Spike and Lorne, hoping that one would know what was going on.

"This is…disconcerting," Spike said with a very serious and thoughtful look in his eyes before he flung his cigarette to the ground, snuffed it out with the heel of his boots and then turned away and quickly went back inside.

"Can…can we talk," Buffy stammered out softly with an extremely nervous look on her face as she found Spike reclining at the end of the dock, staring up at the night sky.

"It's a free country, or at least last time I checked it was," Spike replied calmly with a laid back tone to his voice as he continued to stare up at the night sky.

"Nice night," Buffy said with a timid edge to her voice as she sat down beside Spike and slipped her sandals off, dangling her feet off of the dock and into the water.

"That it is luv, though that's not what you came here to talk about, is it," Spike said with a somewhat skeptical tone to his voice as he kept gazing up at the stars but still saw Buffy tense up a bit at his words.

"No, you're right…it's not, why didn't you tell me when you came back…you didn't have to show up in Rome or anything but," Buffy started to say with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face before she forced herself to turn away as she fought back a tear.

"Wasn't my place, I had to let you have a little peace and time to yourself, sure I wanted to see you, talk to you…when I went poof into Angel's office, but at that time I was a spook, couldn't touch anything and couldn't leave LA," Spike said in a low tone of voice as he glanced briefly at Buffy before returning his gaze to the sky.

"But you still could have had someone call me, we could have done something, we could have helped you," Buffy said back in earnest with a very sad and frustrated look on her face as she turned back to Spike.

"Last time I checked you and yours weren't exactly in the helping mood when it came to the LA gang," Spike calmly said back with a bored and somewhat uncomfortable look on his face as he shifted his weight and dislodged a pebble from underneath his shoulder and tossed it out into the pond.

"That was only Giles, he never told us that Angel called him for help, if he had called and told me that you were back I would have been on the first plane that I could find," Buffy snapped back with a very serious and almost angry tone to her voice as she scooted back away from the end of the dock and tried to look Spike in the eye.

"Really now, wouldn't the new boyfriend have had a small problem with that, you rushing off in the middle of the night to see an old friend," Spike asked with a sing song edge to his voice as he took a useless deep breath and closed his eyes.

"He would have understood that I had to go and see an old love, I know he would have," Buffy said with a pleading look in her eyes as she hesitantly reached out and gently touched Spike's hand, her confidence growing when he didn't immediately pull it away.

"Love…so then you were serious there, back in Sunnydale, when you said," Spike asked softly as he tried to not admit how much he was hoping for a positive answer.

"What, of course I was Spike, I did…do love you," Buffy replied with a look of great sincerity on her face that Spike had to dig his fingernails into the palms of his hands to keep himself from looking straight into her emerald eyes.

"Guess then I didn't get my hopes up for nothing," Spike joked back with a forced look of amusement on his face as he let out a soft chuckle.

"What," Buffy asked softly with a confused and surprised look on her face as she pulled her hand back away from Spike's.

"Back after that night when I found you in that abandoned house I thought that things were looking up for us, that had I made it through the battle in Sunnydale in one piece that maybe someday I wouldn't just be," Spike quickly answered with a calm tone of voice and a very serious look on his face as he glanced over at Buffy and held her gaze for some time before she looked down at the dock and made small circles in the soft wood with her fingernails.

"You're not wrong, if you had made it out of Sunnydale with the rest of us then I was going to talk to you…see if you still felt the same way about me that I felt…feel, about you," Buffy squeaked back at first with a nearly sick feeling in the pit of her stomach before she gained strength from somewhere inside of herself and looked back up at Spike.

"We can't go back Buffy, it's to painful, for the both of us," Spike said with a very sad and hurt look on his face as he sat up and shook his head, hunching his shoulders up a bit and lowering his head.

"I know, and I don't want to, what if we tried moving on…moving forward, see where that would take us," Buffy said with a very nervous look on her face as she turned back briefly to Spike but then turned away as a couple of tears fell.

"I could do that, just as long as everyone knew about it…us, I don't want you to be ashamed of us anymore," Spike said in a soft whisper as he realized that Buffy was about ready to lapse into one of her fits of crying and gently reached out and pulled her head back around until she was facing him with a hand on her chin.

"Deal," Buffy said with a soft sniffle before Spike started to smile and pull back but she took a chance and pushed aside her fears and leaned forward and began a gentle kiss on Spike's lips. For a second she was terrified that he was going to pull away and be put off by her sudden leap forward but her fears were allayed, at least most of them, when instead he kept her close and pulled her into a more passionate kiss. The two would be glad later on that it was a dark night. Buffy wouldn't realize it until much later but Spike's skin wasn't cold, like the last time they made love, but warm.

The sound interrupted her trip from her room to the bathroom. Michelle had done her best not to wake anyone in passing their open doors but Jamie hadn't been able to sleep and at the sound she had shot up out of bed and hurried to her door. Michelle blushed and looked away as she caught sight of what how little the newest resident of the mansion was wearing. From the quick glance that she got the bra was being stretched to its limits while covering only the smallest amount while her panties were almost nonexistent.

"Um…Jamie, maybe you should," Michelle started to say with a nervous look on her face before Jamie grabbed the thin bathrobe that she had been lent and slipped it on, though she left it open in the front as she was interrupted by hearing the sound again and others walking up.

"What's going on here," Willow asked with a sleepy look of anger on her face as it was clear that she wasn't happy about being awakened in the middle of the night.

"We don't know, we just heard a sound and were going to see what it was," Jamie replied with a nervous look on her face as she shut her door behind her.

"So did we, it sounded like it was coming from the basement," Maria said with a quickening of her breath as she walked out of the darkness and into the dimly lit hallway.

"But there's not really anything down there…right, it's not the right time of the month for Nina to change into a werewolf and everyone else is asleep," Katy added with a curious look on her face as she moved her wrist just a bit and Michelle noticed that she was holding a small knife.

"Where did you get that," Vi asked with a scared expression on her face as she walked up beside Michelle and saw the glint of light on the blade.

"Spike gave it to me, said that it might come in handy, though I don't think that he's behind this," Katy replied softly with a slight shrug of her shoulders as she shifted her weight to keep most of it off of her now only sore left hip.

"Well put it away, we probably won't even need it, the sound that we heard is probably nothing, this is an old house, it was probably just the foundation settling or something simple like that," Willow said back with a now calmer tone to her voice as she looked around at the small group of slayers assembled around her, hoping to keep them calm.

"We should split up and search the mansion," Rhona announced with a very determined scowl on her face as she walked down the hallway, looking like she had just been out on the grounds taking a walk and come in when she heard the noise.

"I think that we should stick together, and tell Mr. Giles," Vi said in a slightly squeaky voice as she fixed her gaze on Katy and Maria and not at the half naked Jamie.

"We don't need to tell Giles, we're not children," Katy said with a stern and impatient expression on her face as she was the only one on the landing to not constantly intentionally avert their gaze from Jamie.

"But he is in charge, we should tell him, he'll know what to do," Vi said with a scared and nervous look on her face as she took a step backwards and was about to turn around when Willow spoke up, just seconds before Katy.

"Not right now he isn't, and besides sometimes you have to do things for yourself, since it appears that none of you are going to go back to sleep until we figure out what that noise was Katy take Maria and Jamie and go downstairs and see if you can find anything in the basement, while I take Vi and Rhona with me and we'll check out up here," Willow interjected with a serious and nervous look in her eyes before everyone silently nodded their heads and split up, though Willow couldn't help but watch a certain member of that trio as she headed for the stairs, wishing that could keep from staring.

END OF CHAPTER 37


	38. The Bonding Continues

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 38-THE BONDING CONTINUES**

While Willow and the others were investigating the mysterious noise Scarlet was busy dancing her way through a local mall, trying to find something that she liked to use as her new look. Kennedy followed closely behind, looking every bit the part of her sire as she didn't let her childe out of her sight and kept a tight leash on her. Her own style had come to greatly resemble that of a biker, or at least what she thought that a biker would wear. Her dark jeans were almost to tight and to top that off she wore a new leather jacket that she had stolen from a young man that she had drained dry. Underneath the leather jacket she wore a top that covered up her chest and top of her midriff before stopping there and being held onto her body by spaghetti straps that went over her shoulders and around her back. She had already gotten a tattoo right in the middle of her back between her shoulder blades. It was of the yin and yang, though instead of in black and white she replaced the white color with her own skin tone as she had left that section open. She had gotten Scarlet to get a few as well, though their locations were known only to her.

"What do you think of this top," Scarlet asked with a sly pout on her face as she held up a top that was black with long sleeves that was sheer to a point and looked like a bra would usually be worn underneath it as it would be visible through the thin material.

"Hmm…it's not you, I think that you're more of a red leather and lace type, more like that place over there," Kennedy said softly as she shook her head and pointed back out of the shop and over to a specialty store. The two spent the rest of the night acquiring clothes, some to use when they were out on the town and some to use when it was just the two of them. When they had been about ready to leave the specialty shop, after draining the saleswoman there dry a young blond woman had walked hesitantly in, looking for something for her wedding night. She only managed to get a few steps into the shop before she noticed the dead body on the floor. She started to scream but it was muffled as Kennedy slapped her hand over her mouth and bit down hard into her neck, bringing forth her next childe, Rhette, near morning.

"What are you still doing up," Connor asked with a concerned tone to his voice as he walked out of the bathroom and saw Morgan sitting on top of the covers in her nightgown and staring silently out of the window.

"Huh…oh just thinking about the future, what we're going to have to do pretty soon," Morgan said with a fearful look on her face as she briefly glanced over at Connor before returning her gaze to the window, absentmindedly rubbing her once injured shoulder.

"We'll get through this, my dad will have a plan that'll work, and after that it'll all be over and we can be together without having to look over our shoulders ever other step, you'll see," Connor replied with a hopefully calming tone to his voice as he walked over to her as he tied the towel tightly around his waist and sat down on the side of the bed beside Morgan and put an arm around her.

"I hope so, because I really don't want any of this to continue, when I first found out that I was a slayer I thought that I had hit the jackpot, that nothing could be cooler than having all of this new power and these abilities, but so far it's all been more of a curse than a blessing, I don't think that I could keep this up for the rest of my life, being the slayer and constantly fighting evil twenty four seven is not the life that I want for myself," Morgan said with a worried look in her eyes as she turned back to look at Connor midway through her speech and then lay her head on his shoulder, cuddling up next to him and wiping away a lonely tear.

"That's why what we do next is so important, if we can get both Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative to leave us alone then we will be free and I can give you that life that you want for yourself, it'll be just the two of us, we'll travel around and find some small out of the way town and find a reasonably priced house and settle down," Connor said with a very serious and sincere look on his face as he gently put his hand under Morgan's chin and brought her gaze up to meet his.

"I see that you've thought this over, this house going to have a white picket fence and two point five kids to," Morgan asked with a sly grin on her face as she fought back the urge to simply break out laughing at the look on Connor's face.

"What do you…what I mean is that we'll find our own way in the world, and only take on the forces of darkness when we have no other choice, other than that I don't care if I never see another vampire again, besides my father of course," Connor started to reply with a confused look on his face at first before he realized that she was joking and tried to simplify what he was saying.

"Our way…sounds like you're expecting me to come along with you, what if I don't, what if I meet some handsome pilot before we leave England," Morgan started to say with a sly grin on her face before she saw the confused and nervous look in Connor's eyes.

"You…you don't want to go with," Connor started to say with a hurt and confused look on his face as he started to pull away before Morgan grabbed him by the arm and stopped him in his tracks with as passionate of a kiss that she could muster.

"Of course I do Connor, I was just joking around, why do you always take everything so seriously," Morgan said softly to Connor, keeping her face but an inch from his, as she stared him straight in the eyes so that he would make no mistake in the meaning of her words and the feelings behind them.

"But then why did you," Connor asked softly with a slightly worried look on his face as he softly caressed her cheek as one of her hands slid down his side until it reached the fold of his towel.

"I just wanted to get you to smile," Morgan whispered back as she leaned forward and then kissed Connor again while pulling the fold apart on his towel with one hand while slipping one of the shoulder straps of her nightgown off of her shoulder, with Connor took care of the other one.

"Did you find anything," Rhona asked before yawning deeply as she and the others met in the living room the next morning.

"No nothing," Willow replied with a tired yawn as she began to make her way back down the hallway towards her room.

"Good, then I can go back to bed," Jamie said with a deep sigh as she slipped her robe off and opened her door, not noticing the stares that she was getting from the others.

"Does she always dress like that," Rhona asked with an awkward frown on her face after Jamie shut her door.

"Pretty much, but back in LA it was just her and Holly, so it really didn't matter if she wore anything at all," Katy replied with a tired shrug of her shoulders as she tapped the flat part of her knife on the railing.

"But wasn't Holly killed by the vampires back in LA," Vi asked with a timid look on her face as she leaned heavily against the wall as her eyelids were beginning to become very heavy.

"Yeah, they went everywhere together, Holly was like family to me," Katy said with a sad look on her face as she rubbed one of the charms on a charm bracelet on her wrist.

"You don't seem to shaken up by her death though," Maria said with a confused look on her face as she checked her watch.

"I…guess I really haven't had time to, everything's happened so fast I don't think that it's really hit me yet, but when it does don't worry I'll be a mess," Katy said with a forced sad smile on her face as she tried to keep herself from allowing her emotions to take hold to powerfully.

"You guys stay up all night," Faith wondered aloud with a worn out look on her face as she rounded the corner and saw the small group in front of her. She looked like she had just come out of a sauna as her tank top and sweatpants were soaked clean through with sweat and her hair was a mess.

"We heard a noise and went to investigate, we looked everywhere but didn't find anything," Rhona answered with a large yawn as she turned around and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You probably heard us then, we couldn't sleep so we spent the night sparring, sorry," Wesley said with a weary smile on his face as he followed Faith around the corner, his clothing soaked through with sweat as well.

"You sure that's all you did," Katy asked with an impish smirk on her face as she slid the knife back into the sheath that she had attached to her belt and turned back to Faith and Wesley. Faith looked like she was about ready to smack Katy upside the head for a moment but then her expression softened.

"Up to now yeah, but now all I want is a nice hot shower and eight hours, come on Wes," Faith replied with a shrug of her shoulders before she turned back and put a hand behind Wesley's shoulder and pushed him along down the hallway just as Buffy and Spike walked into the house, oddly enough with Buffy wearing Spike's duster.

"So do we have a plan yet," Gwen asked with an impatient scowl on her face as she leaned back in her chair in the room that Angel and Spike had debated strategy in earlier.

"Not completely, but it won't be long now, as long as Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative hold off for another day we should be okay," Angel replied with a grim expression on his face as he continued to do a few more calculations in his head.

"We are at the end then, the final battle is upon us," Groo added with an almost excited expression on his face as he turned in his chair and looked at the other three in the room.

"Pretty much, though we'd like to see it all end with us in the winner's category and not in the recently dusted category," Spike replied with a somber and serious look on his face as he brought the mug of warm blood to his lips and then took a drink.

"It's only a matter of time before they figure out where we are and raze this place to the ground, we can't stay here much longer," Gwen said with a concerned look on her face as she pulled over and then studied some of the maps that Angel had gathered.

"You're right, and that's why tonight we end this, by tomorrow morning it'll all be over and we'll all be free," Angel replied with a very sincere and serious look on his face as he pulled back from studying the maps a bit and looked up.

"You sure that we can do this all in one night," Buffy asked from the doorway as she pushed the door open and glared lightly at Angel and Spike, while Giles stood behind her with an equally stern look on his face.

"We'll have to, otherwise all three sides will call in reinforcements and this city will be destroyed," Angel replied with a cold expression on his face as he couldn't help but be irritated a bit by the scents that poured from both Spike and Buffy. He knew what they had done the night before but unlike he had expected he wasn't insanely furious at them, instead it was more like a shot that hit a little closer to the mark than he had expected it to.

"And that wouldn't be very good for the old resume would it, no one would ever hire you then," Nina joked with a warm smile as she walked into the room and sat down in the open chair next to Angel.

"Was that supposed to be funny," Giles asked with an impatient and unkind scowl on his face as he glared over at Nina, who looked ready to say something back but she bit her lip and instead just glared daggers back at him.

"Giles, if you do that again I'll throw you out of the window," Angel said with a very clear and stern look on his face as he glared up at Giles and Buffy decided against getting involved and just stayed in her seat, her left hand brushing over the back of Spike's right hand.

"Don't worry Angel Rupert's a good boy, he won't do that again," Spike said with an almost mocking tone of voice with a sly smirk on his face before Angel cut him off.

"All right everyone this is it, the final battle, we get this right and we can all go home happy," Angel interjected with a very serious look on his face as he began to distribute several maps around to the different people in the room.

"Where is this, I don't believe that I recognize the neighborhood," Giles ask with a deep in thought expression on his face as he studied the map in front of him.

"It's an old section of town, out on the edge where there aren't to many houses, that's where we're going to make The Initiative and Wolfram and Hart fight us, thereby hopefully reducing the possibilities of any innocents getting hurt," Angel answered with a calm but yet serious look on his face as he took out a pen and began to make a few marks on the big map spread out over the top of the table.

"Now we think that Wolfram and Hart and their forces have congregated around their building here," Spike said slowly as he stood up and pointed out a location on the big map before continuing. "As for the government boys they've set up camp just outside of town and trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible, now all that remains is the vampire army that has only grown since we closed the portals," Spike added with a very serious look on his face as he pointed out the location of The Initiative camp just on the edge of the city.

"How'd you find that out, go up and ask them if they were part of a super secret government program in charge of ridding the world of everything that's not entirely human," Buffy asked with a girlish smile on her face as she leaned forward in her chair and glanced up at Spike, catching sight of his impatient scowl at her question.

"Not exactly, but any group that size is hard to conceal for very long, especially from a couple of vampires and a werewolf," Nina answered with a proud expression on her face as she checked her watch and tried not to look angry at the surprised looks on Giles and Buffy's faces.

"This part of your plan at least appears to be sound, but I really can't think of anything that we have or can do that would cause all three of those groups to cease hunting us," Giles interjected with a very serious and curious look on his face as he looked up and waited for Angel's answer.

"Actually we do, while I was head of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart I managed to squirrel away a few choice bits of information, among them are facts that neither Wolfram and Hart nor The Initiative would want to be made public knowledge," Angel replied with a calm look on his face as he finally finished scribbling a list down onto a scrap piece of paper.

"Though just to be safe we're splitting up what little evidence we have into at least two groups, so that after we make the deal they won't double-cross us, but that doesn't mean that we can't plan for the future," Spike said with an impish smirk on his face as almost everyone else in the room wondered what he meant but Nina couldn't help but chuckle before Angel stepped in.

"We've made numerous copies of everything, both what we're going to hand over to them and what we're going to keep back, so we're safe either way, Giles you'll take one copy of everything back to Rome with you and send one back to London as well, that way they will have to leave all of us alone," Angel interjected with a serious and proud smirk on his face as he shuffled a few papers and stuffed a couple of scraps of paper into his pockets.

"You're going to trust me with all of that information," Giles asked with an interested and curious tone to his voice though in the back of his mind he was almost giddy at the prospect of learning more about the two mysterious organizations.

"Normally no Giles, I wouldn't trust you with all of that information, however given that I'm only giving you a copy while I keep the originals is my failsafe in case you try to cut a deal," Angel replied with a very serious look on his face as he shot Giles a silencing glance before he turned his gaze to the maps.

"What is to become of the army of the undead that remain," Groo asked with an interested and concerned look on his face as he lightly studied the maps on the table in front of him.

"More than likely The Initiative already has many plans on how to deal with them, all that we have to do is stay out of their way and dust those that try to get past us, as tempting as it sounds we don't want an entire army of vampires simply slipping away back into the countryside," Spike answered with an anxious expression on his face as he sat up in his chair and looked across the table at Angel.

"Look everyone, I brought that army into London to help with the first part of my plan, and as such they're my responsibility, I won't rest easily until they're all dust in the wind," Angel added with a very serious look on his face as he looked around the room, making sure that everyone there knew that he was serious about getting rid of the vampire army.

"Perhaps you should have thought about all of this before you brought that army here in the first place," Giles said with a rather stern and disapproving tone to his voice as he scowled heavily and continued to study the maps, never seeing the angry look that Angel gave him.

"Perhaps, but then again at least I've admitted my mistakes," Angel shot back without the slightest bit of venom in his voice before he collected the maps and left the room, with Nina looking nervously at everyone else in the room for a few short moments before she got up and hurried off after her boyfriend.

END OF CHAPTER 38


	39. Play And Downtime Before The Storm

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 39-PLAY AND DOWNTIME BEFORE THE STORM**

Standing up from the desk he walked over and carefully and quietly opened the window, not wanting to disturb his beloved who was catching up on some much needed sleep. He had slept for a time before being awakened by a particularly bothersome dream. He kept quiet as the wind blew in through the open window, across the room, and then over her uncovered body. For some reason Faith would throw the covers off in the night and now as he watched the breeze waft over her she lay on her stomach with her head sandwiched in between their two pillows, snoring softly and undoubtedly drooling a little. It still amazed him that a woman capable of such ferocity and vigor could also appear so innocent and in fact almost childlike at times. He would still at times close his eyes, take a deep breath, and then open them again, checking to see if she was just an illusion. But each and every time that he would open his eyes she would be there, sometimes asking him what he was doing. He'd give her enough of an explanation before she plead for him to stop with the over answering of her questions. Feeling a big roguish himself Wesley leaned over and grabbed a large feather, being used more to accentuate the room than anything else, that was laying on top of the desk. He debated for a second if he should continue or not but being with Faith had given him a somewhat of a randy streak and he wasn't about to stop now.

As stealthily as he could he made his way back across the room and carefully sat down on the bed. Faith moved a little bit but stayed asleep. Grabbing the point of the feather Wesley gingerly brushed the fluffy end of the fear across the bottoms of Faith's feet. At first Faith lay still, except for the effects of her breathing. But when Wesley continued to tickle the bottoms of her feet she reacted. First she flipped her head from lying on the left side of her face to lying on the right side of her face, she curled her toes and moved her feet a bit but otherwise stayed still. Not getting the response that he wanted from only tickling her feet Wesley slowly started to target other areas of her body, slowly moving the feather up one leg, over her butt, and then up onto the small of her back. He stopped for a moment when he thought that he heard a giggle escape Faith's lips, but when she seemed to stay put he resumed his trek. He stopped again when he got to her shoulder. With a sly grin on his face he started to make a line back and forth from her right armpit, up over the shoulder and then across her back to the top of the other shoulder and then down into that armpit before going back. He had just started to trail down the middle of her back when she spoke.

"You better not be thinking what I think that you're thinking, because otherwise I'd have to hurt you," Faith mumbled from in between the two pillows as otherwise she stayed still, with her right arm hanging over the edge of the bed. Wesley started to say something witty back but was interrupted by a knock at the door and then Willow telling them that Angel wanted to talk to them in an hour.

"Saved by the bell," Wesley whispered huskily to Faith as he leaned over her gently lifted up the top pillow a bit, tickling the point in between Faith's shoulders as he did so.

"Go without me," Faith mumbled back softly in reply as she tried to get back to sleep but found it impossible.

"I'm sorry Faith but I can't do that, now come on you…we both need a shower," Wesley said with a slightly apologetic tone to his voice as he sat back up on the bed and set the feather down on the nightstand.

"Go on without me, I'll be there in a bit," Faith said back with a bored tone to her voice as Wesley started to stand up. He had only taken a couple of steps when he caught the sound of Faith softly snoring. With a soft chuckle he turned back around, walked over to the bed, and then scooped Faith up into his arms and carried her towards the bathroom.

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"What kind of demon are you," Morgan asked with an awkward expression on her face as she cautiously approached Lorne, who was sitting in the library with a glass of brandy in his hand and an old book on his lap.

"I'm an empath demon honey-bear, I can sense people's aura's and if they sing a piece of a song then I can read them and see the way that they should go, it's the trying to help them with their future that's gotten me into trouble before," Lorne replied with a warm but tired smirk on his face as he set the glass of brandy down on a coaster.

"Could you…read me," Morgan stammered out with a nervous and scared look on her face as she slowly continued to mill about Lorne's chair, not yet ready to sit down.

"It would be my pleasure sugarplum," Lorne replied with a very warm expression on his face as he could tell that the new slayer was beyond scared about something, and he was determined to put her mind at ease. Lorne listened carefully as Morgan fearfully squeaked out a stanza of Mary Had A Little Lamb. "You're working yourself into a tizzy over nothing Morgan, you and Connor do have a future together, not that it's going to be a perfect one…but then again who gets happily ever after in this day and age anyway," Lorne finally said with a calming expression on his face as he laid his right hand on top of Morgan's left, thankful that she stayed still and didn't pull away at his touch.

"That's…how did you know," Morgan gasped out with a very surprised, nervous, and shocked look on her face before Lorne held up a hand and answered her question.

"It could with the horns…empath demon remember," Lorne started to say with a cheery smirk on his face before he threw in a bit of humor.

"Huh…oh right, so then Connor and I won't die tonight," Morgan said with a very relieved look on her face as she tried to smile before she almost came to tears at the though of one of the two dying.

"While I can't completely guarantee anything every sign points to you and Connor sticking around for years to come, though as for the being insanely happy together part…well you're on your own there," Lorne said back with a serious but calm look on his face as he picked his glass of brandy back up and finished it off.

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"So your ex is a witch," Scarlet asked with a bored look on her face as she looked over the collection of jewelry that they had heisted the night before.

"Yeah, and a wickedly powerful one at that, so don't go and get any ideas of trying to take her on all by yourself, I didn't turn you just so that you could get dusted a few days later," Kennedy replied with a relaxed smile on her face as she tried on a couple of rings and then picked up a necklace.

"Besides…you're to good in bed," Rhett joked with a sly grin on her face as she stopped draining an unlucky citizen of London long enough to speak.

"Like you'd know," Scarlet angrily shot back before she spun around on her heel and started to stalk out of the room.

"Settle down you two, tonight you can let out all of your frustrations on the citizens of London, but until then you're going to get along," Kennedy said with a very firm tone of voice as he pulled hard on Scarlet's leash, pulling hard on the collar that was buckled tightly around her neck.

"She started it," Scarlet shot back with a frustrated pout on her face as she looked sympathetically to Kennedy but glared at Rhett.

"Did not," Rhett spat out with a proud look on her face before she was silenced by a sharp jerk on her own leash.

"Sorry mistress," The two newest vampiress' said with humbled and nervous looks on their faces as they both hoped that their mistress would not punish them for their outburst.

"You're forgiven, this time, but as fun as tonight will be we still have work to do, we still need to find you two a sister," Kennedy said with an impatient look on her face as she held up a third collar that was very similar to the one around Rhett and Scarlet's necks.

"Can I pick her out this time," Scarlet asked with a pleading and seductive pout on her face as she sauntered back over across the room towards Kennedy, making a point of what little clothing that she was wearing to try and sway her mistress' favor.

"This isn't a democracy, I'm in charge here and I'll pick your sister, you two just be glad that I'm keeping you around, now be good and go and get me something to eat, I'm hungry…and make her pretty," Kennedy said with a bored and anxious look on her face before she walked over and unbuckled Scarlet and Rhett's leashes before they went out to hunt for a meal fit for their mistress.

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"You sure giving Rupert all of that information is a good idea," Spike asked softly with a concerned look on his face as he finally caught up to Angel on the latter's way down to the basement.

"Good or bad it doesn't really matter anymore, it's the only way that I can think of to insure that at least some of us make it through tonight," Angel replied with a tense and anxious expression on his face as he stopped at a door and then opened it.

"I can think of another way…we lob a few nukes at them and run like hell," Katy added with an impish smirk on her face as she turned to Angel and Spike, as it appeared that she was in the middle of a workout.

"But then London would be a lost cause," Spike quipped back with a soft glare back at her before she stopped doing the splits and then stood back up.

"Good point, guess that's why I'm not the one in charge," Katy replied with an embarrassed smile on her face as she shrugged her shoulders and then slid back down into the splits.

"Getting in a little last minute training Katy," Angel asked with a slightly relieved but still nervous look on his face as he pulled his coat off.

"Not exactly, I have to work out every day to keep looking this damn good, wouldn't want to go all soft when the fate of the world is at stake you know," Katy answered with a scared smile on her face as she tried not to let the two vampires that she idolized see her fear.

"What do ya know, me to," Spike joked with a big toothless smirk on his face as he only shrugged his shoulders when Angel cocked an eyebrow and shot him a confused look.

"How's your leg," Angel asked with a sincere look of concern on his face as he helped Katy back up to her feet and as a look of discomfort crossed her face.

"Still a little sensitive, but thankfully only if I step wrong," Katy replied with a nervous smile on her face as Angel let go of her hand.

"That's good to hear, you did well during the last fight Katy, perhaps if you accelerated your training you could be almost as good as Buffy or Faith," Angel said with an honest expression on his face as he slipped his coat off and laid it on a nearby chair.

"You think so," Katy said back with a nervous but excited gleam in her eyes, as she couldn't help but allow a cheesy grin to crease her face.

"Yes Katy I do, if you like I could show you a few things while we have the time," Angel replied with a slow nodding of his head as he stepped back away from Katy a step and grinned. He willed himself not to laugh as he saw Katy's eyes light up and the smell of her excitement was intoxicating, not to mention that her hormone's were running in overdrive.

"When do we start," Katy started to ask with an invigorated look on her face before Angel rushed forward and took her feet out from under her, with Spike catching her just before she hit the floor.

"Rule number one pet, never let your guard down," Spike said in a kind voice before she shoved her hard back up to her feet as Angel sent a spin kick towards her head. With a yelp she barely missed the kick and retaliated with a kick of her own towards Angel's stomach as she ducked underneath the kick and used her arms to give herself enough leverage to put something into the kick.

"Good, but not good enough," Angel said with an even keeled look on his face as he recovered from his attack and caught Katy's kick with both hands. Before she could react he spun her around and into the nearby wall. With a pained grimace on her face Katy slowly picked herself up and raised her guard, not sure which vampire was going to attack her next.

"Okay then, don't keep me guessing," Katy said with an almost daring look on her face before she took a step towards Angel and saw Spike start to move out of the corner of her eye. Believing that he was making his move she shifted her position to defend against Spike's attack, but it never came. Instead Angel's left fist connected with her jaw, sending a shower of stars into her field of vision as she staggered back into a rack of brooms. "Ow," Katy mumbled with a humbled and embarrassed look on her face as she slowly started to extricate herself from the mess.

"Rule number two Katy, never let your opponent have the advantage," Angel said with a serious tone to his voice before he started to step forward to help Katy up out of the mess.

"You mean like this," Katy said with a nervous look on her face before she swung her legs out and surprised Angel, knocking him to the ground on his back hard before she started to spin around to get back up to her feet but was stopped immediately when she found Spike holding the point of a sword to the tip of her nose.

"And never focus all of your attacks on only one of your enemies, otherwise if this were a real fight then you would be dead," Spike said with a very serious look on his face before he pulled the point of the sword away and offered Katy a hand up.

"Lucky me then huh," Katy said with an embarrassed expression on her face as she took a hold of Spike's hand and let her pull him up.

"Luck has nothing to do with it Katarina, in the end it's the one that wants it the most that wins, no matter what the odds are," Angel added with a very serious look on his face as he got back up to his feet.

"Okay, I get it…now can we actually get to the moves, I could die tonight and honestly I'd really rather not," Katy said with an equally serious look on her face before Spike and Angel launched into a bit of training.

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"You and Spike seemed pretty chummy earlier," Dawn said in a singsong voice as she came up behind Buffy and couldn't help but grin.

"Which reminds me Buff, didn't you and Spike come in pretty late this morning," Willow added with an almost jokingly accusing tone to her voice though Buffy could see the sadness at losing Kennedy in her eyes.

"Did we…I really didn't notice," Buffy answered with a carefree tone to her voice as she made her way towards the kitchen.

"That line may work on Giles and Xander but it won't work on me sister, I know you to well," Dawn exclaimed back with an overly excited smile on her face as she hurried to catch up to Buffy as they entered the kitchen.

"Dawn's right, I know that something happened between you two last night and I believe that you're obligated to spill, or else we'll just go ask Spike, I'm sure that he'll…," Willow started to add with a proud look on her face as she hurried over to the refrigerator and pulled out a pint of ice cream and grabbed three spoons before finally pulling up a chair next to Buffy's.

"Well, I finally got him alone last night out on the dock, we talked for a bit before…," Buffy started to nervously reply as she couldn't help but smile before she blushed furiously and couldn't continue.

"Are you saying what I think you're," Willow started to say with a surprised look on her face before she was cut off by an almost ear piercing squeal from Dawn as she jumped over and gave Buffy a very tight hug.

"Yes…I knew it," Dawn shrieked with an ecstatic and zealous grin on her face before she began to eagerly hop up and down on her chair.

"He said that he didn't want me to keep us a secret like last time," Buffy said with a nervous look on her face as she awkwardly tapped on the top of the ice cream with her spoon.

"So I guess then you're lucky that you and The Immortal are done with and have been for awhile," Willow offered up with a sincere look of happiness on her face as she clapped Buffy on the back.

"I still don't understand exactly what happened, Lorne said that he just died…just like that, I know that I should be feeling really sad right now but for some reason I just can't do it," Buffy said with a confused look on her face as she dipped into the ice cream just a bit and then took a bite.

"Well him being an ageless demon probably didn't help matters," Jamie interjected with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

"What," Buffy asked with a confused and unsure expression on her face as she turned around in her chair, stopping in the middle of getting another spoonful of ice cream.

"He was exactly what Illyria was, one of the ancient ones, he existed before vampires first showed up on the scene, then he made a deal with Whistler to stay alive when all of the others like him started to kill each other off, he's been hiding ever since, doing whatever he wants along the way, Angel and Spike have history with him, history that goes back over a hundred years, they had a good reason to hate him, and it certainly didn't help when he rubbed your relationship in their faces," Jamie replied with a very serious and concerned look on her face as she slowly made her way across the room and got out another spoon, with Willow's eyes trying not to stay locked on her two greatest assets or notice how low her tight jeans were riding.

"You sure about," Buffy started to say with a bit of scorn and disbelief in her voice before Jamie stuck her spoon into the ice cream and interrupted.

"Damn sure, I was possessed by Illyria for long enough to know what she was, and to know that your ex The Immortal, was the same thing, guess he wasn't as immortal as he thought," Jamie interjected with a very serious and sarcastic expression on her face as she lifted up a large scoop of ice cream and then shoved it into her mouth.

"Why you," Buffy started to growl with a very angry scowl on her face before both Willow and Dawn leapt into action, grabbing her shoulders and keeping her from going after Jamie.

"All I'm saying is that you were duped into falling in love with an almost ageless demon that really didn't give a damn about you, other than the fact that you were the slayer and he got points with his buddies for boinking the slayer," Jamie quickly replied with a confidant look on the surface but her eyes shown her fear through clearly enough. Buffy was just about to shove both Willow and Dawn away and go after Jamie when they all heard a popping sound behind them.

"Dimension hopping is the worst, you always feel like you're going to lose your lunch when you rematerialize," Whistler said with an odd and comical tone to his voice as he smiled at the women and then began to dig through the refrigerator. Buffy, Willow, and Dawn just stared at Whistler in a stunned silence but Jamie very nearly jumped out of her skin and dropped her spoon to the floor at Whistler's sudden appearance in the kitchen.

"Wha…what, who…who are you," Jamie stammered out with a scared look on her face as she began to slowly take a step back towards the door and away from Whistler.

"Whistler's the name and destiny's my game pretty lady, I help special people find their way back to their true path in life, which basically means that I see them at their worst…and let me tell you, it ain't pretty, ya got any booze," Whistler calmly and politely replied at first with a comforting smile on his face before he delved back into the refrigerator to continue his search for something to drink.

"Is he for real," Jamie asked Buffy with a timid look on her face as she took another step back towards the door.

"Unfortunately," Buffy grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she rolled her eyes and abandoned the ice cream.

"Hey now, is that any way to talk about the guy that's going to save your lives, if you ladies want to survive tonight then you're going to have to play by my rules, otherwise you'll all get slaughtered, not a pretty picture," Whistler shot back with a frustrated pout on his face before he found what he was looking for and popped the top off of a bottle of beer before chugging a large mouthful.

END OF CHAPTER 39


	40. Honest Truths, A Happy Mistress

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.**

**CHAPTER 40-HONEST TRUTHS, A HAPPY MISTRESS**

"You think she'll make it," Spike asked with a serious look on his face and some trepidation in his voice as he watched Katy leave the training room and head upstairs to take a shower.

"Who knows, I can't even say for certain if we'll both make it, I don't have a clue how this is all going to go, it could all blow up in our faces for all I know," Angel replied with a nervous shrug of his shoulders as he inspected a small cut on his bicep that Katy had made with the edge of a knife during their last training walkthrough.

"Well what do we have here Wes, our fearless leader doubting himself, this is not encouraging," Faith snickered with a pointed grin on her face as she lightly elbowed Angel in the side as Wesley bent over and picked up one of the swords that they had used during the short training session.

"Most discouraging indeed," Wesley added with a sly smirk on his face as he calmly inspected the sword that he had picked up.

"Good to see that you two still have your sense of humor, you'll need it tonight, since I'm giving the two of you one of the hardest assignments," Angel said with a slight smirk on his face as he picked up another of the swords, lightly tapping his right index finger on the end of it. When it pricked his skin and a small ball of blood appeared he nodded his head in approval and then handed it to Spike who put it back on the weapons rack.

"I knew that this was all to good to be true, let me guess…we're the bait to get the vampire army to come into town where they can be annihilate by The Initiative," Wesley said with an overly sarcastic tone to his voice as he glanced over at Faith, who picked up a sword of her own and cocked a curious eyebrow, with the edges of her lips beginning to curl up into a daring smile.

"You're wrong Peaches, he's not as dumb as he looks," Spike quipped with a deadly serious look on his face before when everyone else in the room looked his way with curious looks on their faces he couldn't help but grin.

"Actually no, that job will belong to Spike and Buffy, I will be busy trying to get The Initiative to follow me while you and Faith will keep an eye on Wolfram and Hart, making sure that they don't move in until the rest of us are ready," Angel stated with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he bent over and picked up his coat.

"And just how are we supposed to do that exactly, walk up to them and say pretty please," Faith shot back with a curious and none to thrilled expression on her face at the thought of having to try and stop a juggernaut like Wolfram and Hart.

"Maybe, look I don't really care how you do it but just keep them there until we're ready for them, if that means blowing something up…then by all means, blow something up," Angel replied with an unenthusiastic look on his face as he slipped his coat on while Spike started towards the doorway.

"Don't be giving her any ideas Angel, we're not trying to start world war three or anything, just saving our own asses," Spike interjected with an almost scolding look on his face before he left the room.

"I don't think that it'll come to that Angel, but if it does then just remember that you're the one that put the idea into her head," Wesley said with a possibly joking look on his face before Faith cut in.

"Ah come on Wes, live a little, explosions are fun," Faith said with a joking grin on her face as she lightly elbowed Wesley in the ribs.

"Except if you're the one getting blown up," Wesley replied coldly with an unhappy frown on his face as he took a step away from Faith, leaving her to stop what she was doing and turn back to him with an inquisitive smile on her face.

"Remember when I told you that our old offices got blown up…well Wes was lucky enough to be inside the building when it went up, luckily I was able to get to him and drag him out, otherwise he wouldn't have made it," Angel said with a serious look on his face as he recounted the story. The smile instantly fell from Faith's face and the light in her eyes was replaced by a look of fear and regret.

"I don't really remember much about it, other than looking over the texts one moment and the next thing that I knew I was waking up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital," Wesley said with a slightly sad look on his face before Faith tried to cheer him up.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right," Faith said with an optimistic edge to her voice as she walked up to Wesley so that she was directly in front of him and had to look at her.

"It would appear so, though I would like to avoid being blown up again if at all possible," Wesley replied with a weak smile on his face before he looked up and saw the nervousness in Faith's eyes.

"Then just use an explosion as a last resort, try something a little simpler, like giving the police an anonymous tip that there's a group of terrorists holding people hostage, that'll bring enough bobbies to keep Lindsey and Lilah busy for awhile," Angel said with a slightly humored look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and took a step back and off of the combat floor.

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"My level seven wizard uses his staff of conjuring to summon a cave troll," Andrew declared with a very proud and triumphant look on his face as he clenched his fists in triumph.

"Nice try, but my spell caster trap prevents your wizard from summoning any monster to the field of play for five turns," David exclaimed back with a victorious grin on his face as he flipped over one of his cards, causing Andrew to go white in the face at the turn of events.

"I don't understand this game," Vi said with an impatient and bored pout on her face as she stared at the few cards that she had remaining and found herself completely lost.

"You and me both girl…why did I ever agree to play anyway," Rhona added with a very impatient frown on her face as she shook her head and set her cards face down on the table in front of her.

"Because you could not think of anything else to better pass the time Rhona," Giles said with a very intense scowl on his face as he studied his stat sheet and cards carefully, already planning his next move.

"We could have done what I wanted to do and go shopping," Isabella, the newest slayer said with an eager smile on her face. She had just arrived in Rome when Giles and Buffy had pulled up stakes and brought the group to London. Her fighting ability was not very high and so far since arriving in London she had done more shopping than training. Her belt length jet-black hair and olive skin gave off her region of origin without her having to answer a question. Though she had been born in a country with a language other than English as the official language she had been brought up in northern California and so spoke the language fluently.

"Oh yeah, and give Wolfram and Hart or The Initiative a perfect chance to grab you and hold you for ransom against the rest of us," Rhona grumbled with a very sarcastic pout on her face as she tried to stay calm when chastising the newest slayer.

"Oh…yeah, I forgot about them," Isabella muttered with a thoroughly embarrassed and dejected look on her face, as she had an unfortunate habit of saying something stupid at the most inopportune moment, as she did her best to hide behind her cards.

"That's okay, it's not like the rest of us are coming up with any awe inspiring plans either, we're here playing a Dungeons & Dragon's style game to pass the time while trying not to obsess about the fact that these could be the last few hours that we have to live," Vi replied with a supportive and worried tone to her voice as she sat up on her knees and scowled over at Rhona, glad when Isabella crept back out from behind her cards.

"Thanks a lot Vi, I had almost forgotten about that," Rhona grumbled back with an unhappy frown on her face as she shook her head and set her cards down onto the table with a frustrated scowl on her face.

"Sorry," Vi mumbled softly with a very nervous look on her face as she slowly shrank away from the table.

"You guys are still playing that stupid game, the battle starts tonight and you're playing games when you should be getting ready," Gwen interjected with a disapproving tone to her voice as she scowled from the doorway with her arms crossed and a slightly confused looking Groo at her side.

"They're not going to fight tonight Gwen, it's to risky, we'd just end up losing half of them and I don't want that on my or Angel's conscience," Nina answered with a forced smile of optimism on her face as she shuffled into the room with her hands in her back pockets with her thumbs hanging out, pointing towards each other.

"Oh, so you speak for Angel now," Gwen shot back with a frustrated and anxious expression on her face as she chuckled a bit.

"In this case yes," Angel stated with a very calm and serious tone to his voice as he strode into the room with a bored looking Spike a few feet behind.

"Who's winning," Spike asked with a bored look on his face before Buffy and Dawn walked into the room, with Buffy looking ready to rip someone's head off and Dawn trying her very best to calm her down.

"Depends on whom you ask," Isabella replied with a nervous look on her face as she was still getting used to being around vampires. Spike started to ask another question but as Buffy and Dawn walked by Dawn made it a point to lean over and grab Spike's arm before dragging him along.

"What was that about," Angel asked with a confused look on his face as Nina stood next to him.

"Jamie, she said some things that got Buffy all riled up, I think that it's best if we just let Dawn and Spike try to calm her down," Willow answered with a bored and slightly tired sigh as she walked into the room and sat down on the couch beside Andrew.

"What things," Nina asked with a concerned look on her face as she looped her arm around Angel's and laid her head against his shoulder.

"The truth about her ex boyfriend, someone had to tell her, guess it all hasn't sunk in yet, she must still think that he actually cared about her," Jamie interjected with a bored and relaxed look on her face as she walked into the room and briefly glanced at Willow before heading towards the stairs.

"And you decided that someone had to be you," Xander said with an unhappy frown on his face as he turned to look over the back of his chair at Jamie, which gave a sneaky Andrew to lean over and get a quick peek of his cards.

"Well I don't know her very well so I was able to just come right out and say it without worrying about hurting her feelings like the rest of you would have," Jamie said with a slight smile on her face before she continued on her way up the stairs.

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"What about her," Scarlet asked with a bored look on her face as she pointed at one young woman out on the dance floor.

"To tall," Kennedy answered with an unhappy frown on her face as she slapped Rhett's hand away from the cup of cashews that sat in the middle of the table. Rhett and Scarlet had changed out of their outfits and into more normal clothes, mostly that of a pair of young women out on the town looking for some fun. Kennedy had chosen to dress pretty casually and mostly kept to the shadows, looking over the potential children, while Scarlet and Rhett had their fun. Rhett wore a low cut backless dress while Scarlet wore a light blue skintight dress that caught almost everyone's attention that night. They passed by undercover members of The Initiative with ease, as the operatives were far more interested in trying to find Wolfram and Hart than noticing three vampires out for a night of fun. More than once during the night Scarlet had been approached by an agent of Wolfram and Hart asking her if she needed representation. In response she had told them that she'd have to ask her mistress first. Luckily for her that had seemed to pacify their curiosity and so they had left her alone after that.

"Well what about that one," Scarlet asked again, this time pointing to the shortest of a group of women that Kennedy had had her eye on since they entered the club, as she sat down in the booth, using a napkin to wipe away some of the sweat that others had left on her body.

"To short, and I'd better not find out that," Kennedy started to say with a very stern look on her face before Scarlet went extra white and interjected.

"Okay, I had a waitress in a bathroom stall, she tasted pretty sweet, probably had some E or something, my head's still swimming a bit," Scarlet interrupted with a hurried and nervous look on her face as she tapped her fingers on the table and expected to be punished.

"Did you turn her," Kennedy demanded sharply with an unhappy look on her face as she lashed out and grabbed a hold of Scarlet's arm, digging her fingernails into her wrist until she drew blood.

"No mistress, of course not, I left her there still alive, if you want you can finish her off, she might be fun," Scarlet replied quickly with a pained and terrified look on her face while Rhett beamed from ear to ear.

"Good, maybe I'll only whip you tonight…Rhett, go finish the nice waitress off and take her home, if nothing else we can use her for bait," Kennedy said with a fed up but forced calm look on her face as she dug her fingernails in deeper into Scarlet's arm before finally letting go and half turning to Rhett.

"Yes mistress," Rhett said with a very respectful and fearful look in her eyes as she nodded her head and then left the booth.

"And me," Scarlet asked with a quiver in her voice as she started to shake slightly out of fear of what Kennedy might do to her in her displeasure.

"Go clean yourself up and then find me something to eat, I'm feeling a bit empty, and make sure that she's not all doped up on something, I hate that," Kennedy said with a very serious and frustrated scowl on her face before Scarlet bowed low to her mistress and left the table. She would return a few minutes later with a pair of twins that definitely had consumed a few too many drinks.

"Will these do mistress," Scarlet asked with a very pensive expression on her face as she directed the two women closer to Kennedy's table.

"Mistress…what," One of the women started to ask with a drunken slur in her speech before Kennedy stood up, leaned in close, and whispered something into her ear. The woman apparently liked what she heard and soon the two were following Kennedy and Scarlet, heading to what they thought was another party. Daybreak would find a woman's dead body, drained of all of its, floating naked in the river, with two new vampires waiting until nightfall for their first kill.

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"The troops ready," Angel asked with a very nervous tone to his voice as he continued to arm himself for the night ahead as the sunlight cast ominous shadows about the room.

"As ready as they'll ever be," Nina replied with a very nervous and scared tone to her voice though the expression on her face was a confidant one.

"We should probably get started, we only have tonight to get this done, and we're already behind the eight ball," Spike added with a calm look on his face as he stepped out of the shadows and slipped his duster back on after having to take it off to arm himself for the night's activities.

"So this is how it ends, the few of us going up against overwhelming odds," Angel said with an under whelmed expression on his face as he turned around and picked his coat up.

"Ain't the first time, somehow we seem to repeat ourselves, first Shanghai, then LA, and now…London," Spike said with a grimly sarcastic look on his face before he picked up Angel's new favorite sword and handed it to him.

"Well then let's make this the last one all right, I can't keep running forever, it all stops here, one way or another," Angel said with a very serious and anxious expression on his face as he buckled the sword's scabbard at his waist.

"Couldn't have said it better myself…uh Nina, could you step outside, I want to say something to Spike and Angel, and I'd rather it be in private," Buffy interjected with a hearty smile on her face before her countenance changed to a much more somber one as she made her request. Nina started to say something but then turned to Angel and connected her gaze with his. He nodded his head as she then turned back to Buffy and smiled warmly before ducking her head down slightly and walking out of the room before closing the door softly.

"Want us all to yourself do ya pet, not exactly the best time but," Spike started to say with a cocky swagger in his step before Buffy held a hand up and stopped him.

"Not now Spike, okay look…this might be the last time that I ever get the chance to talk to either of you so I want to say this before I choke up," Buffy stated with a very forced look of calm on her face as both Angel and Spike could tell that her emotions were running the entire gambit and her heart was racing.

"We're going to get through this Buffy," Angel said softly with a very heartfelt tone to his voice as he stepped forward and glanced over at Spike to confirm that both were worried about the slayer.

"I hope you're right, but if any of us don't I have to say this, Angel…you know that I love you, I always will, you were the first that…but our time is done, you're happy with Nina now and I'm not going to jeopardize that," Buffy said with a very nervous and tense look on her face as her eyes started to fill up with tears before she leaned in close to Angel and kissed him softly on the lips before finishing with her explanation. Spike started to step forward and protest but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. "And I love you Spike, maybe I always have…no matter what I've tried since the night that I met you in the alley behind The Bronze I haven't been able to get you completely out of my mind, but throughout all you've been there for me when I needed you, even if I didn't want you there, I tried to prove to myself and everyone else that I was over you when I started dating The Immortal, but to tell you the truth I only did that because he reminded me so much of you, there were times that I almost forgot who it was that I was with, but make no mistake about this…I did not love him, you're right that I didn't fully know what he was but I had some idea that he wasn't being completely on the level with me…but I'm denial girl remember, I try to push everything away until it fades into the dark and goes away, but this won't fade away, I don't want it to, I'm…we're through keeping this to ourselves, so here goes…Spike, if we both live through this then I'd like it if you'd…move in with Dawn and me in Rome, see if it works," Buffy added with a very serious and honest look on her face and tone to her voice as she looked first to Angel and then locked her gaze squarely on Spike, as she held his rapt attention throughout. When she finished she leaned into Spike, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him like it was their last. Angel expected himself to feel extremely jealous but as he watched the kiss an emotion other than jealousy filled him, followed by another. The first emotion was instead a serene pride, before confidence was ushered in when the kiss ended and the two looked to Angel, almost as if silently begging for his acceptance.

"Come on, we can't leave them waiting any longer, the night is still young and Faith's patience only lasts so long," Angel said with an odd smile on his face before he adjusted his coat and left the room, silently hoping that he would see the two behind him many times in the coming years.

END OF CHAPTER 40


	41. This Is Where The Fun Begins

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**Author's Note: In between this story and it's official sequel I am writing a story that follows Katy and Maria and their friend's adventures back in the states. I hope that you give it a try, it's called Nyet. And it will be racier than this story but mainly due to Katy's profession of choice and the people that she meets because of it, so in other words it might not be for everyone. Nyet will have very few if any of the characters in this story other than Katy and Maria so it's not necessary to read it to understand the sequel to this story.**

**CHAPTER 41-THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS**

"Alright everyone let's go over the plan again so that there's no foul-ups," Angel said with a very serious and determined look on his face as he stepped down the final few steps and walked out into the back courtyard.

"Xander, Willow, Dawn, and myself stay here with the new slayers and if anything goes wrong we leave the country tonight, using the information that you gave us our ticket to freedom," Giles replied with a calm but yet also disapproving tone to his voice as he checked his watched and tucked the packet of information securely under his arm.

"Spike and I get the vampire army to follow us, leading them right into The Initiative, and then we let them kill each other off," Buffy added with a nervous look of calm on her face as she slipped her hand into Spike's, noticing Xander's unhappy reaction while Dawn and Willow both could only bite their lower lips to keep from screeching in congratulations.

"While Wesley and I play private eyes and keep the boys and girls of Wolfram and Hart where they are, at least until you give the signal," Faith said with a somewhat unhappy at being asked to do so little in terms of fighting look on her face as she crossed her arms and picked her feet up off of the ground, set them on the bench, and leaned back until she could lay her head back and rest it on Wesley's shoulder.

"Correct, but only until we're ready to bring them into the battle, then it'll be your job to make sure that they stay in the battle," Angel said with a very serious look on his face as Katy walked in with a battle axe in her hands.

"Where do you think you're going with that," Spike asked with a serious tone to his voice as he stepped forward and away from Buffy as he made his way towards Katy.

"To help you guys, you're crazy if you think that I'm just going to stay here like a good little girl and hope and pray that everything goes okay, I'll go crazy if I'm not out there," Katy replied with a very determined scowl on her face as she pulled the battle axe back and away from Spike.

"Your place is here Katy, as one of the few of these new slayers that I trust I need you to keep the others safe," Spike started to say so that everyone could hear before he lowered his voice and leaned in a bit before finishing.

"But," Katy started to growl back with an angry scowl on her face before she switched gears and put on her best seductive pout, hoping to sway Spike's favor, before he cut in.

"That face won't work on me luv, I've seen it to many times before from to many birds, I have a sinking feeling that Wolfram and Hart or The Initiative is going to send someone or something after the mansion, and it'd be better for everyone if there was someone standing guard here that knew what they were doing in a fight," Spike quickly said back with a soft tone to his voice as Katy listened closely and decided that a continued argument was not in her best interest.

"And what if they don't come here, I can't just sit here on my hands while you guys have all of the fun," Katy continued with a slightly less defiant and impatient expression on her face as she tightened her grip on the axe.

"Fun…sorry pet but this stopped being fun a long time ago," Spike replied with an eerily honest look in his eyes as Katy stayed still as he relived her of the axe.

"Just don't die okay," Katy whispered under her breath, low enough so that only Spike and Angel could hear, as she took a solemn step back and her shoulders slumped as she got into line beside Maria and Michelle.

"What makes you think that all of those vampires are going to just follow you blindly," Xander asked with a very pointed look on his face as he turned and looked directly across the backyard at Buffy and Spike.

"Well given our reputations I'd think that they'd be falling all over themselves to do us in, our only problem will be keeping ahead of the storm," Spike replied with a daring grin back at Xander as he stepped back and slipped an arm around Buffy's waist.

"Just see that you do," Giles said with a very grim and serious look on his face as he made it a point to catch Spike's gaze with his own.

"What about us, we didn't come all this way to baby-sit a bunch of," Gwen started to say angrily with a frustrated tone of voice before Angel interrupted her.

"You and Groo will be very busy tonight, take Connor and Morgan with you and keep the police busy, but whatever you do don't get caught," Angel stated with a very serious and calm look on his face as he took a step forward and turned to look at Connor and Morgan who had just walked around the corner.

"Where are we off to," Morgan started to say with an interested look on her face before Katy stepped forward and cut in.

"Wait a minute, I have to stay here and she gets to go, I'm way better than," Katy started to exclaim with a borderline furious look on her face before a stern glare from Spike momentarily silenced her.

"Morgan is going with Connor because he wouldn't leave without her, not in the current state that she's in, constantly terrified that something will happen to him," Willow said softly as she stepped over close to Katy and made it so that only the former dancer could hear.

"Then why doesn't he stay here and let me go," Katy started to argue with an impatient frown on her face before Angel growled low in his throat and Katy quietly bowed her head and stepped back into the shadows, mostly to hide a few tears of fear and frustration.

"Okay people, if all goes well after tonight we can all go home and life will get back to normal," Angel said with his voice raised, as several of the new slayers that Buffy had brought with her mumbled unhappily to each other.

"Well then what are we waiting for, on to glory," Spike glumly said with a very glum look on his face before the plan was put into motion.

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"This has got to be the most boring job that I've ever had, and trust me…I've had a few of the worst," Faith announced with a boring look on her face as she reclined on the edge of the building, letting her right arm and leg dangle off of the edge, while Wesley kept watch on two sentries with a pair of binoculars.

"Want to wager a bit on that," Wesley asked back with a sly grin on his face as verbally sparring with Faith was much more fun than watching two ancient looking guards trying to stay awake outside of a hotel.

"You mean actual money," Faith shot back with a confused tone to her voice as he rolled her head over to the side and looked over at Wesley.

"Yes Faith, actual money," Wesley replied with a sly smirk on his face as he stopped looking through the binoculars and stood up, looking back at Faith as she propped herself up on her elbow, letting her hair fall just right in front of her face and for a moment shift Wesley's thoughts from the job at hand to more enjoyable pursuits.

"Sure, though you'd have to loan me some, working for B doesn't pay very well," Faith replied with a nervous half shrug of her shoulders as she sat all of the way up and looked back down over her shoulder to where the two Wolfram and Hart guards that they were watching were standing.

"Well then you're out of luck, because working for Angel doesn't pay much better, and in all honesty I'm completely broke, all of my money is back in the bank in LA, unless Wolfram and Hart has stolen it or frozen my accounts," Wesley replied with at first a half hearted laugh before he grew serious and sat down beside Faith.

"Well we don't have to bet for money, how about we have it so that whoever wins gets a favor from the loser anytime that they want it," Faith said with a curious and hopeful look on her face as she swung her legs up and off of the ledge before she lightly began to trace a star on the back of Wesley's right hand with the fingernail of her left index finger.

"What kind of favor," Wesley asked with a very curious expression on his face as he looked deeply into Faith's eyes before quickly checking on the guards through the binoculars.

"That depends on the bet, how much you're willing to risk," Faith replied with a very sultry look in her eyes as she picked up her left hand and leaned across Wesley's lap before she set her left hand down on the ledge in between Wesley's legs and looked directly into Wesley's eyes.

"Is that a dare Faith, I should have you know that…we're in business," Wesley started to boldly say back with a proud smile on his face before the front doors of the hotel across the street opened and Lindsey and Lilah stepped out, with the former holding the door for a frail looking Drusilla.

"What, wait a…let me see," Faith started to ask with a surprised and confused look on her face before she grabbed the binoculars and spun to her left as she brought them up to her eyes, forgetting that Wesley still had the strap around his neck.

"Uh Faith…could you, thank you," Wesley started to mumble into the back of Faith's head before she realized why his face was so close to her and she let go of the binoculars with a guilty look in her eyes.

"Looks like they're making their move," Faith finally said with an uncomfortable tone to her voice as she pulled back one side of her coat to pull the knife from its sheath on her belt.

"And well ahead of schedule to, guess we'll have to put them on the time out chair, do you want to do the honors or should I," Wesley said with a slightly joking but yet completely serious tone to his voice as he looked back through the binoculars.

"You stay here while I cause a little mischief, you can cover me with your guns if I get into trouble," Faith said with an energized look on her face as she flashed the blade of her knife against the moonlight.

"When do you not get into trouble Faith," Wesley joked back over his shoulder with a worried edge in his voice before he lowered the binoculars and turned back around to look at Faith.

"Jerk," Faith spat out with an angry scowl on her face as she used the point of the knife to dig a little dirt out from under one of her fingernails.

"Bitch," Wesley shot back with a fake look of anger on his face as he slid one of his guns out of its holster before Faith let the angry look drop from her face and she stepped up to him and pulled him down into a kiss that left the two breathless when it was over.

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"You ready for this pet," Spike asked with a serious look on his face as he looked across the alley towards the slayer that he loved.

"Honestly…no, but when has that ever stopped me before," Buffy slyly said back with an impromptu smirk on her face as she tapped the hilt of her sword with her thumb and continued walking.

"Don't be to hard on yourself slayer, it wasn't your fault that you fell hook line and sinker for The Immortal's lies," Spike said with a bit of a sarcastic tone to his voice as he lowered his head a bit and continued on. Buffy stopped walking almost immediately and spun around to face Spike.

"What…I did not fall," Buffy started to say with a very shocked and defiant expression on her face as she began to take a step forward.

"You did to, you believed every one of his lies and was so happy to be with someone that wasn't a vampire that you didn't even think for a second to check into his background, you took him at face value, if you had done that with Angel and myself we wouldn't be here right now and you know it," Spike interjected with a very serious look on his face as he stopped walking and turned back to Buffy, holding up a hand so that she wouldn't interrupt him until he was finished with what he had to say to her.

"Was it really that bad what he did to," Buffy started to ask with an unhappy frown on her face before Spike surprised her and stepped up closer to her until the two were nose to nose and he was staring her straight in the eye.

"He chained us up in his dungeon and tortured us for a good long time while he had his way with Dru and Darla, and for as long as we were in the area he taunted us with that fact, and when we went to Rome on Wolfram and Hart business he taunted us with the fact that he was dating you, made sure that we knew that the two of you were together and happy to boot, then he did everything in his power to make sure that our quest to get back the head took as long as possible and that we ran into as many of his friends as he could throw at us, even after we got back to LA he continued to taunt us, so sorry if you're having a little trouble hating the son of a bitch but Angel and I are glad that he's gone," Spike said with an eerily serious look in his eyes, one that Buffy had only seen once before when the two were down in the bowels of the Earth under Sunnydale and their hands had burst into flames, when they were clasped together, that left their skin untouched. Buffy immediately opened her mouth to shoot back a retort but couldn't rightly think of anything, leaving her only one out of the situation at that exact moment. A lone tear slid down her cheek before she sniffled and looked as if she were about to cry but steeled herself against that act and kept from doing so. In the back of her mind she hoped and expected the act to work and for Spike to apologize or at least relax his assault on her former boyfriend, though not because she thought that what he was saying was wrong. No matter who she had ever known or been with the words spoken and the deeds done by the vampire standing in front of her and his grandsire had always struck her the hardest and cut the deepest.

"I…I can't, I don't," Buffy softly began to mumble with an overwhelmed look on her face before her resolve failed her and she dropped to her knees and began to sob like Spike had never seen her do before, not even when her mother had died unexpectedly. He had heard of how Dawn had reacted and from the descriptions he could tell that this time she wasn't holding anything back, prompting him to wonder if she wasn't crying every bit as much the unused tears for her mother along with the tears for her mistake of a relationship with The Immortal. Unable to control himself Spike did the only thing that he could think of. Dropping to one knee he took Buffy into his arms and held her tightly.

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"Are you sure this is safe," Nina asked with a worried look on her face as she crept up next to Angel, her werewolf senses picking up many guards far below them on the street below.

"No, but we're to late for a sure anything," Angel mumbled back with a very serious and grim look on his face after he took a peek over the edge of the building.

"So what's the plan boss, I don't really feel like letting them get their hands on me and figuring out that I'm not fully human, I don't think that they'd let me go," Nina asked with a brave look on her face that hid the terrified woman behind it as she swallowed hard and tightened her grip on her axe.

"Don't worry Nina, I won't let them take you, they'll know me on sight and I'll lead them out to the warehouses, your job is to keep me informed over the radio and make sure that they're not trying to cut me off at the pass," Angel replied with a very serious yet also very nervous look on his face as he pulled an earpiece out of one of his pockets and slipped it into his ear. Without thinking Nina pulled him close into a kiss that she meant partially out of desperation and partly out of the fear that she might not see him again. As if to try and reassure her Angel cupped her face with his hands and returned the kiss.

"What if they figure that out and," Nina started to ask with a determined but worried look in her eyes as Angel could feel her shake slightly in the cool night air.

"They won't, they'll be to interested in capturing me to even notice you, just as long as you stay out of sight," Angel interjected with a serious look on his face before he slid his sword out from underneath his cloak and stepped to the edge of the building.

"I love you," Nina said with a very heartfelt tone to her voice as Angel turned back to her and saluted before he calmly stepped back and off of the building, putting his plan into action.

END OF CHAPTER 41


	42. High Tension

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**Author's Note: Just wondering what you reviewers think, should I hook up Jamie and Willow or wait to see how the deal with Kennedy, Rhett, and Scarlet pans out? And should I hook Xander, Andrew, and David up with any of the single ladies in the house? Should I write a story with Kennedy and her girls or just leave them as a side story?**

**CHAPTER 42-HIGH TENSION**

"Here," Michelle said with a nervous look on her face as she handed a very anxious Katy a cup of hot chocolate.

"Thanks," Katy said coldly with a very firm and serious set to her jaw before she took a small sip and was forced to admit to herself that she was glad that the other slayer had brought it out to her.

"Don't worry, everything will work out fine and they'll be back here before you know it," Michelle said softly in such a voice that it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself of that fact that anyone else.

"I wish that I could believe you," Katy said back with a hint of softness and worry in her voice as she shivered a bit as a cold wind blew through the area.

"You like him don't you," Michelle said with a telling snicker and grin on her face as she crossed her arms and looked up at the much taller slayer.

"What…no, well okay yeah…I do, but I know that I don't have a chance against her so I'll just have to find someone new," Katy said with at first a surprised and stunned look on her face before she couldn't keep the act up and so she relented and admitted that she had missed the boat.

"They do seem to really be in love…don't they," Michelle said with a dreamlike smile on her face as she let her mind begin to wander.

"Whatever…look did you have some other reason for coming out here than to give me some hot chocolate," Katy said with a slightly disgruntled expression on her face as she leaned a bit more on her pole axe before taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"Not really…though I don't want to get roped into playing any games with David and Andrew, those two are weird," Michelle said with an uninterested look on her face as she hunched up her shoulders and looked back in the direction of the living room.

"Tell me about it, I caught Andrew trying to take a peek at me yesterday while I took a shower, the little perv," Katy said with an uncomfortable and unhappy scowl on her face as she remembered being in the middle of her shower when she had heard the door to her bathroom make a noise. She had shut it firmly then and later found a bit of Andrew's favorite candy lying scattered across her floor when she was done, leaving little doubt what had happened.

"I thought he was gay," Michelle questioned with a confused look on her face as she turned back around to face Katy and tilted her head up.

"Me to…though I'm guessing that he's the definition of a spineless follower, all he needs is someone powerful to lead, and whoever that it, man or woman, he crushes on," Katy agreed with a humorous smile on her face as she leaned back up against one of the columns and stared out at the night sky, hopeful that it would not be the last one that she would ever see.

"I think that you have to add beauty to that, I've seen him follow Faith around a bit and I almost caught him drooling over Jaime a couple of days ago," Michelle said with a bit of a disgusted look on her face as the thought occurred to her to wonder if he had thought of doing that with her.

"We have got to get new friends," Katy said with a gross feeling in the pit of her stomach before she shook off the bad feelings, though part of that was to try and keep warm.

"You can say that again, hanging around with Angel and Spike is not the best way for a slayer to lead a long and happy life," Xander said with a serious and almost mocking tone to his voice as he stepped out of the mansion and up to Katy and Michelle.

"Neither is palling around with a guy that turns his back on his friends thinking he knows what's best for everyone and God forbid if any of them might have a problem with that," Katy stated back with a very thinly veiled threat in the tone of her voice as she gazed at the former carpenter coldly while Michelle was much more hospitable.

"Now what is that supposed to mean," Xander demanded with an angry scowl on his face as he glared at Katy with his one good eye.

"It means that I'd rather spend my time with two centuries old vampires that just happen to have souls than to spend it with a human being who couldn't be bothered to help those that he had once counted as friends," Katy spat back with now an almost furious glare in her eyes as Michelle timidly stepped in between the two, hoping and praying that a fight wouldn't break out, mostly because she knew full well that Xander would definitely be on the losing end.

"You know, you've got a lot of nerve for someone that looks like she just stepped out of one of Andrew's comic books," Xander said with an intentionally mocking smile on his face as he took a half step back and awaited Katy's response.

"What…was that supposed to hurt my feelings somehow, because as odd as this sounds I'll take that as a compliment, now why don't you be a good little blind believer and go back inside before my patience runs out and I get the urge to ram my fist so far down your," Katy said at first with an almost impish and impressed smile on her face before she clenched her fists tightly and made sure that Xander knew full well that she was leveling a threat his way.

"That's enough you two cut it out, the last thing that we need is for us to turn on each other," Willow exclaimed with a very commanding and firm tone of voice as she stood in the open doorway with a blanket wrapped tightly around her and Jamie peering over her shoulder, shuddering slightly at the cool breeze that blew in around the witch.

"To late," Katy grumbled angrily under her breath as she looked away and pulled her pole axe away from the wall, hoping to make a more than impressive show of force.

"It's not me Will, it's little miss vampire snack wannabe, she still thinks that she can trust Angel and Spike," Xander said with a slightly arrogant tone to his voice as he took a step back until he was nearly shoulder to shoulder with Willow and crossed his arms.

"That's because she can Xander, Angel and Spike have been telling us the truth since the beginning, and no neither one is evil, Giles is the one that lied to us about Angel being trustworthy, or did you forget about Whistler's visits," Willow stated with a very nervous and chilly look on her face as her heart began to beat much faster, though partially due to Jamie's close proximity.

"But he could have been," Xander started to say with a surprised and slightly embarrassed look on his face as he whirled around to face Willow and Jamie before Jamie cut in.

"Why don't you quit now and save what's left of your dignity Xander, you can't win this fight…not like this," Jamie interjected with a firm but not angry tone to her voice as she lightly brushed Willow aside, jumping slightly at the touch.

"You know, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of you always hanging around acting like you know all of us, just because you were possessed by some centuries old demon doesn't give you the right to," Xander started to snap back with an angry and frustrated tone to his voice, surprising Willow with his actions, as he turned around on Jamie and started to raise his hand to point forcefully at her before she surprised everyone and grabbed Xander by the neck, grimacing as she lifted him up off of the ground.

"Oh my," Michelle shouted with a scared and very surprised look on her face as she took a fearful step back as Katy started to ready her poleaxe even though she was hesitant to actually use it.

"Let her go, Jamie, let her go," Willow pleaded at first with a worried tone to her voice and look on her face before her eyes began to slightly cloud over with darkness as she laid a hand on Jamie's forearm, hoping to make her drop Xander if nothing else. Her anxiety was soon replaced with relief as Jamie looked over at her, and after a second or two of staring deeply into each other's eyes Jamie let go of Xander and looked away.

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"Well this should be fun," Gwen stated with her usual confidant if not smug tone of voice, as she calmly pulled her gloves on, though Groo and Connor could tell that she wasn't entirely sure that she'd live through the night and was trying not to let it show.

"I do not like this, are the authorities that we will be battling not our friends, our allies," Groo said with a confused and unsure look on his face as he turned away from looking at Gwen and back to Connor.

"Under normal circumstances yes Groo they'd be our friends, however tonight their getting into the act can only hurt our chances, so we have to do something…anything, to draw and then keep them here as long as we can," Connor replied with a very serious and somewhat scared look on his face as he knew what he had to do but not the slightest idea of exactly how to go about it.

"So what are we going to do, blow something up, rob a bank," Morgan asked with a deep in thought expression on her face as she fully zipped her jacket up and looked around, her breath easily visible in the cool night air.

"Nothing that drastic, with all of the security cameras we'd have to leave the country immediately if we tried something like that, besides we don't want to hurt anyone, just keep everyone looking our way," Connor replied with an anxious expression on his face as the group continued to walk towards a small plaza that was filled with people and lined with pubs.

"You two kids do whatever you want, Groo and I are going to get a drink," Gwen said with a frustrated and bored look on her face as she shook her head before she started to walk towards one of the pubs.

"But I do not require refreshment, why am I," Groo started to say with a confused look on his face before Gwen scowled heavily, grabbed his arm, and yanked him away and towards the pub.

"Those two are something else, I don't see why he stays with her with the way that she treats him," Morgan interjected with a concerned for a friend tone to her voice as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself and laid her head on Connor's shoulder.

"I think it's more that Gwen is a very lonely woman, and so far Groo is the only guy that hasn't run for cover after meeting and getting to know her, I guess you could say that she's using him to feel normal, to feel wanted," Connor replied with a deep and nervous breath as he watched the two adults head towards the pub, with everyone seeming to be able to sense Gwen's anger and getting out of her way like the Red Sea parting for the Israelites.

"I've always wanted to be naughty, now I can be as bad as I wanna be," Morgan said with an odd smirk on her face as she lifted her head off of Connor's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"What do you mean," Connor asked with an unsure and slightly worried look on his face as he pulled away from Morgan just enough to get a good look at her face.

"You'll see, come on," Morgan said with a wide grin and a snicker as she took his hand in hers and pulled him along towards the center of the square.

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Faith stealthily crossed the street, pressed herself up against the building and then made her way silently towards Lindsey and Lilah. She had flipped the blade of her knife around so that the point traveled up her arm stopping just short of her elbow, concealed well enough by her coat so that a stray beam of light wouldn't reflect off of the metal blade and betray her movements. Believing themselves to be completely safe their seemed to be few guards protecting their walk to their cars. High above on the rooftop Wesley stood at the ready; already taking aim at every one of the forms that had left the building. What he hadn't told Faith when she had slipped away was that he had brought along a little bit of reinforcements if his bullets and her daring weren't enough to keep Wolfram and Hart where they were until Angel was ready for them.

"We should keep moving," Lilah said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she looked around at the people milling about on the streets around them with scorn.

"Relax Lilah, we're already dead, what could anyone possibly hope to do to us," Lindsey chided her with a bored and supremely confidant grin on his face as he adjusted his coat and buttoned up the last button.

"Out in the open not a care in the world, all the ducks lining up in a row," Drusilla said with her usual singsong tone of voice, as she seemed to glide out of the building with her feet never touching the ground.

"What's that supposed to mean, why can't you make sense once in a while," Lilah snapped with a frustrated expression on her face as she rolled her eyes and turned away, exasperated on how slowly their plans were progressing.

"Bad woman expecting havoc and pain, not liking the custard, no…not at all," Drusilla replied in response as she swayed back and forth before she twirled around and stared up at the night sky. Lindsey started to silence an overly sarcastic comment from Lilah but then the two instead shared a look that led to their both not having a clue what Drusilla meant. Both were so consumed by trying to figure out what Drusilla was saying that they didn't notice Faith sneaking up on them, or that she had slid the knife out of her sleeve and was ready to strike. However Faith was so confident in her abilities that she had forgotten to check out a dark corner, one that hid a vampire that made up part of the ring of outermost security. Faith was just about to strike out at Lindsey when a shot rang out in the night, slamming through the head of the vampire that was sneaking up on Faith and just barely grazing her shoulder. She hissed in pain as she collected herself quickly enough to drop down and roll into the alley just before Lindsey and Lilah could whip around and look in her direction. She quickly checked her shoulder and was relieved to discover that the bullet had done little more than rip through her shirt and coat, leaving only a small line of blood on her shoulder. The wound would be fully healed before the night was over. There was little to no anger directed at Wesley, as she knew that she had him to thank for still being alive, as she probably wouldn't have noticed the vampire behind her until it was to late.

"Get inside sir," One of the guards shouted in alarm as he drew his gun and started to usher Lilah and Lindsey back into the building, with Drusilla staring oddly up at where the bullet had come from.

"Not without her," Lindsey snapped back with a furious scowl on his face as he threw the guard away from him and made an effort to get to Drusilla.

"Let go of me you stupid," Lilah started to growl with an angry sneer on her face before a shot tore through her wrist. Lilah's scream of pain broke Lindsey out of his focus solely on Drusilla as he whirled around to see how badly she was hurt. The change in direction was all that Faith needed as she leapt out of the darkness and landed a kick to his stomach before shattering his nose with her knee.

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"That them," Buffy asked with a tense tone to her voice before she sniffled again and almost fearfully looked over at Spike. Since her breakdown in the alley she found it almost impossible to fully regain her composure with Spike by her side. It was beginning to dawn on her just how much she had hurt him by dating The Immortal and she worried that he would never get over it, but with their actions of the past few days she found herself having hope that everything would work out for the better in the end. Now if only she could really make herself believe that she'd be all set.

"Looks like it, now all we have to do is get their attention while not getting ourselves caught, should be fun," Spike whispered back with the usual overly confidant tone to his voice as Buffy knew that whether he was facing two enemies or two thousand he'd do his very best to keep the same tone and body language when facing them, never letting on if fear entered into the equation.

"You need help, you know that right," Buffy whispered back with a sarcastic tone to her voice as she thought about smacking him upside the head but decided against it.

"Yeah, and I'm willing to bet that you'll be the one to give it to me the moment that we get through this," Spike whispered back with a randy look in his eyes that Buffy missed at first before her brain connected the dots and she couldn't help but smile the first smile that Spike had seen on her face in nearly an hour.

"You're a pig Spike," Buffy shot back with what she hoped was a scolding look on her face, though in hindsight it probably only furthered Spike's daring.

"Oink, oink," Spike said with a very sly grin on his face as he reached out and laid a hand on Buffy's bare arm, surprised and worried to find that she was shaking.

"I'm okay, really," Buffy said with a nervous smile on her face as she set her sword down and then laid that hand over the one that Spike had laid on her arm, soon pulling it off of her arm and holding it tightly.

"Hold that thought while I go introduce myself," Spike said with a supportive look in his eyes as he squeezed Buffy's hand back before he pulled away from Buffy and walked out into the open to get the night started.

END OF CHAPTER 42


	43. Bad Only Gets Worse

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 43-BAD ONLY GETS WORSE**

"Come on guys, you can do better than that," Angel said with a very clearly mocking tone to his voice as he easily vaulted over an eight foot tall fence while The Initiative soldiers chasing after him struggling to climb up and over it.

"Vampire scum," One of the guards shouted angrily as he waited to get his chance to start to climb the fence while others were just about over the top.

"You guys really need to come up with some better insults, I've heard better from small children," Angel taunted with a smug grin on his face as he casually leaned up against a back door of a restaurant while spinning his sword around with its point setting on top of one of his shoes. The last bit was too much for one of the soldiers as he growled in anger, raised his gun, and then fired off a few shots. Expecting a reaction like that Angel simply spun around the corner and let the bullets harmlessly slam into the brick wall. "Is there something you'd like to talk about friend, you know they make drugs to help with that now," Angel added with a daring grin on his face as he peeked back around the corner and kept and inward count of how many soldiers could be on his side of the fence before he needed to continue the chase. He counted seven soldiers before he made sure that they saw where he went and raced off into the darkness.

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Wesley kept his gun trained down on the front of the building. Lilah and Lindsey had long since gone back into the building, dragging a spaced out looking Drusilla with them, but still no Faith. He had unintentionally stopped firing as he watched her work, admiring each and every move that she made. However when the brief fight had ended she had slipped back into one of the alleys and disappeared and he hoped and prayed that she was all right and that he wouldn't have to go down and search for her. He was just about to get up and go and look for her when she surprised him.

"You ruined my coat," Faith grumbled with at first an angry scowl on her face as Wesley spun around to face her as she was fingering the tear in her coat.

"Sorry…I was aiming for Lilah but," Wesley started to say with a guilty and nervous look on his face as Faith slowly approached him before she looked about ready to say something spiteful in response but changed her mind and instead let out a nervous sigh and laid her head up against his chest. At first Wesley staid still, not completely sure about what Faith was doing. But taking a chance he slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her close, not lightening up until he heard her breathing calm down and some of the tension leave her body.

"Thanks," Faith mumbled softly into Wesley's chest as she allowed herself to just barely reach her arms around Wesley's back and give him a soft hug back before she pulled away far enough to look straight up at him.

"You're not hurt are you," Wesley said with a worried look in his gaze as he slid his left hand up to Faith's shoulder before she shrugged his worry aside.

"Nothing that won't heal by morning, provided that we live that long, get any of them, I was so busy down there that I didn't notice," Faith replied with an equally worried look on her face as she reached up and brushed the back of her right hand against Wesley's cheek, liking the scruffy look on her former watcher.

"Got Lilah pretty well, she should be pretty angry with me right about now," Wesley replied with a sly grin on his face as he repeated the gesture to Faith, though liking instead the smoothness of her skin.

"We should probably get to another rooftop before they're here in mass numbers," Faith said with a reluctant tone to her voice as it as clear that she could easily think of things that she'd rather be doing but knew that this was important enough to push those thoughts to the side until the night was over.

"Right, falling back would be a wise course of action right now," Wesley replied with a serious look on his face before he took Faith's hand and the two ran off of the roof, down the stairs, and then disappeared into the night, mere moments before Wolfram and Hart security officers stormed the immediate area.

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The explosions could be seen for miles. The vampires had hidden themselves well and at first were not that inclined to come out into the open. Though after seeing only Spike and Buffy in front of them their initial fear gave way to anger and so they charged out in droves, forcing Spike and Buffy to change their plans of keeping ahead of them and instead of just running through the streets Spike was forced to hotwire a van.

"Do you know where you're going," Buffy shouted in alarm as Spike took a corner very hard and almost sent her crashing across the front seats into him. Only her slayer strength kept her in her seat.

"What do you think," Spike shouted back with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he slowed the van down just long enough to check in the rearview mirror and see that the hordes of vampires were spilling out into the streets behind them.

"I think you're crazy, but then again when did you ever listen to me," Buffy shot back with a sarcastic grin on her face before Spike took another corner hard and she got caught by surprise and flew across the vehicle and slammed into Spike, just as an explosion blew a hole straight up through the street from the sewer below and dropped the van that they were riding in down into the underground, right into one of the subway tunnels. When the dust cleared Buffy found herself lying directly on top of Spike, who in the commotion had fallen first and now lay on his stomach against the ceiling.

"Buffy," Spike spat out through the remaining cloud of dust as he tried to look over his shoulder and see if she was okay.

"I'm okay…you," Buffy replied softly with a pained look on her face as she sat up and off of Spike before she looked around and tried to figure out where they were.

"Just peachy, what the hell happened, where are we," Spike answered at first a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees and looked out through the smashed windshield.

"Down in the subway system I think," Buffy started to reply with an unsure look on her face before a blinding light appeared some distance away.

"Bloody hell," Spike said with a deadly serious tone to his voice before he spun around and kicked out one of the doors.

"You've got to be kidding me," Buffy started to say with a scared tone to her voice before Spike grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the van and then up the pile of rubble back up to the street level, just as they started to hear a loud screeching noise that could have only been the subway train noticing that there was an obstruction in the way and slammed on the brakes.

"Move," Spike shouted at the top of his lungs as he and Buffy tore across the street and dove into a nearby alley, mere seconds before the first subway car slammed into the van and began to push it down the track.

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"Are you sure that this is going to work," Connor asked with a confused look on his face as he looked through pub window at the group of clearly drunk men that were all sitting at a table against the far wall.

"Of course, you go in there and tell them that a few guys from one of the other pubs were making fun of them while I go into that pub over there and tell some more drunks the same thing, if all goes well then it'll turn into a big fight and the pubs will empty and the police will come and it'll take awhile for them to restore peace, hopefully long enough for your dad's plan to work," Morgan said back with a proud and confident look on her face as she leaned up against a light pole.

"And you're okay with just walking into a pub full of patrons, some of the them completely plastered, and then hoping that they look past the fact that you're a beautiful young woman and you're all alone," Connor wondered aloud with a very concerned look on his face as he laid a hand on her arm and made her look him in the eye.

"Sure…I mean, what could possibly happen, I'm a slayer right, if anyone starts anything I'll just lay the smackdown on them and then leave, no problem," Morgan said with a forced look of confidence on her face as she began to realize that she hadn't thought through her plan as well as she had thought.

"Every time you say no problem I get a bad feeling," Connor said with a serious and concerned look in his eyes, as he looked first at Morgan and then over the pub that she was going to walk into.

"Everything will be fine, that is unless Gwen has a little to much and gets out of control, I don't think that the police will look to kindly on us if she starts to electrocute anyone that tries to touch her," Morgan said with at first a kind of sarcastic smile on her face before the smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of worry and unease.

"Then perhaps we should tell them the plan before we do anything, that way she and Groo will be ready to…oh damn," Connor started to offer up as an idea before he glanced over Morgan's shoulder and saw a line of familiar Wolfram and Hart jeeps pull onto the square and then a few of them parked on the grass letting several armed soldiers leap out and start to take up positions while still more jeeps passed on by.

"What the hell are they doing here," Morgan exclaimed with a very startled and surprised look on her face as she spun around to look where Connor was looking before she leapt away from the light pole and slid behind Connor.

"I'm not sure, they could be moving out earlier than we had hoped, that or maybe they're not taking any chances and setting up a wider perimeter than we expected, I don't think that they're here for us or even know that we're here," Connor answered with a very serious tone of voice as one of his hands wrapped around behind him to find Morgan's while the other glided softly over the handle of the knife that he had sheathed at his waist.

"We should tell Gwen and Groo," Morgan said with a scared look on her face as she and Connor slowly crossed the street and edged towards the pub that Groo and Gwen had disappeared into.

"You're right, though now we have to come up with a new plan, if we cause a bar brawl here Wolfram and Hart would probably either send their grunts in to keep the peace or just let them fight, the only problem with that is when the police show up to break up the fight and see what looks like an army unit in their backyard things could get very ugly for everyone," Connor replied with a very serious and worried look on his face as they got to the door of the pub and then slipped inside.

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"So what's the prognosis," Lorne asked with a concerned look on his face as he turned to Giles, who was sifting through a large pile of papers on the desk in the library.

"I'm not sure but I think that what Jamie is experiencing is some kind of after effect of having been a host for Illyria, her enhanced strength and other abilities could be permanent changes or fade away over time, I just don't know enough about the ancients to be able to give you a concrete answer," Giles replied with a serious and concerned look on his face as he looked up from reading through one of the folders while Jamie looked on from the corner where she had retreated to after her show of force against Xander. For his part Xander now stood directly behind Giles and kept Willow close by for insurance against a repeat attack. Rhona and Vi had taken the next watch, allowing Katy to try to get some sleep but her nerves had kept her from getting any and so she took the open chair nearest to Giles and did her best to help him figure out what was happening.

"Is she going to be okay, she's not going to change into a demon or anything…right," Isabella asked with a scared look on her face as she took a small step away from Jamie.

"I honestly don't know, although from what I've been able to decipher she shouldn't even be alive after having been a host, the hosts of any of the ancients don't seem to live long after the separation, so I'd say that Jamie's case is unique," Giles replied with a thoughtful look on his face before he did his best to smile at Jamie as she was visibly scared of the idea of turning into a demon.

"In other words you want to drag her back to Rome and make her your little lab rat, running test after test on her, probing and prodding until you know what makes her tick," Katy said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she set her glass down on the coaster on the coffee table and looked squarely at Giles.

"Now wait just a minute," Giles began with a very serious and angry look on his face as he started to get up out of his seat to yell down at Katy but Willow reacted first and laid her hands on his shoulders and stepped in.

"That's not going to happen Katy, I won't let it, Giles is just saying that we don't know enough about any of this to even begin to make a guess at what'll happen to Jamie in the future," Willow interjected with a calming tone to her voice as she also kept a calm look on her face.

"But Will, we don't know what she's capable of, for all we know Illyria could still be in there somewhere, laying low until it's time to strike," Xander said with a nervous and concerned look on his face as he stepped around the edge of the couch and looked straight at Jamie, who couldn't meet his gaze and looked away.

"Illyria is gone Mr. Harris, after you told me what happened I pulled her aside and had her sing for me, she's clean, just Jamie, no Illyria in sight," Lorne interjected with a calm smile on his face as he poured himself a drink and then dropped in a couple of ice cubes.

"And we're just supposed to take your word for it, for all we know you could be," Xander started to argue with a quickly building look of anger on his face before once again Willow stepped in.

"That's enough Xander, Lorne rarely lies and right now he has nothing to gain from lying to us, Illyria is truly gone and we should all be happy about that," Willow snapped at first before calming herself down and speaking softly so as to not lose her temper.

"Though I would like to agree with you Xander I believe what Willow is saying is true, Jamie is now something…someone, very special and…," Giles started to say with a forced look of calm on his face as he continued to sift through a couple of files before Katy jumped in.

"And not going to have her life dictated to her by you or anyone else, if she wants to go back to California with me and return to dancing then you're just going to have to let her," Katy interjected with a very serious and almost threatening look on her face and tone to her voice as she stood up and looked down directly, with an angry glare on her face, first at Giles and then up at Xander.

"Okay everyone, perhaps we should all just step back for a moment and calm down, we don't need to do this here," Lorne said with a concerned and hopefully calming look on his face before he set his glass down on the table beside his chair.

"Stay out of this ya," Xander started to growl with an angry scowl on his face before someone was thrown through, from the outside, the glass doors that made up one wall of the library with such force that shards of glass were sent flying everywhere.

"Ahh," Isabella screamed in shock and alarm as she dove to the ground and covered her head with her arms, tears soon streaming down her face.

"What's going," Xander started to ask with a very nervous tone to his voice as he poked his head up above the back of the couch before several Wolfram and Hart soldiers swarmed into the building, pointing their guns at everyone that they saw.

"Son of a bitch," Katy growled with an angry scowl on her face as she pushed off of the floor and then grabbed one of the soldiers guns and used it to push him back hard into the wall, smiling when she heard a couple of his ribs crack under the pressure. As the soldier began to slide painfully to the floor Katy started to turn to attack the next nearest one when her luck ran out and one of them slammed the butt of his gun into her temple, knocking her out cold.

"Katy," Jamie screamed with a very scared look on her face as she charged into the fray, trying to get to her best friend. She managed to get to Katy's side before Willow leapt into the fray, her eyes blackening over as she stepped around the couch. One of the soldiers saw this and tried to get to her before she could open her mouth. However he only got his gun halfway up before a pillar of fire consumed him.

"Madre de," Isabella started to gasp with a very shocked look on her face before she was hit with a stun gun and knocked out.

"Everyone get out of here," Giles shouted with a very commanding tone to his voice as he took the initiative and lowered his shoulder, ramming into one of the soldiers and driving him back into a few of the others, with them all going down in a huge pile.

"What's going on," Dawn asked with a confused look on her face as she raced into the room before she got her answer in the form of a bullet that slammed into her shoulder and sent her reeling backwards into a table and knocking it and the large potted plant sitting on top of it over and crashing to the ground.

END OF CHAPTER 43


	44. The New Guy And Time To Fight

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 44-THE NEW GUY AND TIME TO FIGHT**

The light hurt her eyes when she tried to open them. The light and the pain in her head made it almost impossible for her to survey her surroundings. She tried to sit up but found herself strapped down to a table, naked and covered up to her neck by a sheet. Almost immediately she began to panic, straining and flailing about with all of her strength in a vain attempt to break the bonds that held her down to the cold metal table. The unsuccessful effort made her weak and her tears came free and unhindered down her cheeks as her mind ran the gambit of what possibly could have been done or would be done to her if she stayed where she was. Learning from her earlier attempt to survey her surroundings she turned her head to the left and opened her left eye, instantly thankful that there were not any lights at that level. Through the glare of the overhead lights she saw Jamie similarly tied down on a table not even an arms length away. She looked to be asleep. Not having a good feeling about her current predicament Katy turned her head over to the other side and opened up her right eye. Instead of seeing Jamie tied down to a table she saw Willow, with a large black and blue bruise on the side of her head.

"Hello…is anyone there," Katy weakly called out with a scared tone to her voice as she half lifted her head and tried to see if there was anyone else in the room, hoping for a miracle.

"You're not supposed to be awake yet," A nervous male voice said from somewhere in the room as Katy struggled in vain to locate the speaker.

"What…where are you, who are you," Katy called out again with a still scared but now a bit hopeful tone to her voice as she strained to look around the room.

"They brought you in here about a hour ago, they said that you were in their protective custody, though I'm not exactly sure how taking your clothes and strapping you down to those tables is supposed to be protective, kind of like how tying me to this chair is supposed to be for my own good," The voice said again with a hint of sarcasm and tenderness in his voice as Katy finally managed to get her head to the right place and make out a dark blob against the wall on the other side of the room.

"Who are you," Katy asked with a still nervous but not as scared look on her face as she did her best to slide her hands around under the bindings and try to see if there was something that she could use to help her escape, or at the very least defend herself.

"Paul…Paul Trayden," Paul replied with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face as he dipped his head down a bit and looked at the counter beside him.

"Okay Paul, I'm Katy, do you know where we are," Katy said with as peacefully and sweetly a tone of voice as she could use before she found a small pin that held one of the bindings together.

"Not really, we're in some kind of hospital I think, some guys that were pretending to be doctors were in here earlier and there's all of this medical equipment around but," Paul answered with a slightly unsure look on his face and tone to his voice as he tried not think about the bruises that would be left around his wrists from how tight the rope was.

"But what, why don't you think that they were doctors," Katy asked with a suddenly very concerned and worried look on her face as she took a second to see if she felt any different that she had before being attacked.

"My mom's a nurse in Phoenix, and these doctors don't look like any of her coworkers, they look more like mad scientists trying to play doctor, and you guys are their patients," Paul answered with a bit of pride in his voice, as Katy could tell that he was very close to his mother, as the pain of the rope seemed to subside a little bit.

"If we're the patients then why are you here," Katy wondered aloud, now more than a little worried that Paul wasn't being completely honest with her.

"Hell if I know, I was just here on vacation relaxing in a pub when someone said that my rental was getting towed, I rushed outside and got whacked in the back of the head by something and blacked out, I woke up here and heard them talking about you guys when they brought you in, they said something about using you as bait for someone named Angel," Paul grumbled back his reply with an unhappy and angry scowl on his face as he lightly struggled against the rope but stopped when he felt the rope rub up against a sore patch of skin that had begun to bleed.

"Angel, oh no, I have to get free, I have to tell him that it's a trap, he'll come to rescue us and then walk right into the trap, Wolfram and Hart will win and everything will be lost, I can't let that happen," Katy moaned with a scared and frustrated look on her face as she once again started to struggle against her binds.

"It's no use, you can't break them…I'm not sure if Superman could even break those," Paul started to say with an exhausted and nervous look on his face before Katy surprised herself when she gave her left arm one last large push and heard the binding on it crack. The room went quiet except for the humming of the lights and the buzzing of the medical equipment for a few moments before Katy tried again. This time the bindings on her left arm completely broke away and it was free.

"Whoa, how did you do that," Paul gasped with a look of awe and surprise on his face as he stared wide eyed across the room at the broken bindings and Katy trying to free her other arm.

"That, ah it was nothing, just one of the perks of being a slayer," Katy joked with an overly arrogant tone to her voice as she hoped that Paul though that she was just kidding around with him.

"A slayer…I overheard the doctor's or whoever they are earlier talking about slayers, they said that they'd almost gotten the whole set, are you part of a team or something," Paul replied with a confused and deep in thought frown on his face as he turned his head and looked up and over at Katy as best he could.

"Something like that, I'd really love to explain it all in detail to you, but the less people know about us the better, know what I mean," Katy said back with a hopefully not hurtful edge to her voice as for some odd reason she was concerned with not hurting Paul's feelings, at least not if she could help it.

"I guess, do you think that you can," Paul started to ask with a confused look on his face before Katy succeeded in breaking the restraints on her right arm and then her body, finally starting to sit up before she remembered that she wasn't wearing anything underneath the blanket and so she clamped it tightly up against her chest with her left hand as she went up.

"Well that was easy enough," Katy grumbled softly with a sarcastic frown on her face as she started to look around the room, finally seeing Paul for the first time.

"Hi," Paul said with a slightly cheesy and nervous smile on his face as he looked back across the room at Katy as she fully took in what he looked like. He looked to be a little bit taller than Katy and though not gifted with a stunning physique was better looking in Katy's eyes than any of the men that she knew, except for Angel and Spike. His dark brown hair was cropped up close and his goatee needed a bit of a trimming but other than that it appeared as if part of his story had been true and he had not been a prisoner of Wolfram and Hart very long. Despite that he did have a few bruises that looked more like what one would receive in a fight where one of the participants was tied up and unable to defend themselves.

"Hi, uh do you know where I can score some clothes around here, I'm not to fond of walking around here in my birthday suit," Katy said back, doing her best to not put to much into her voice as she didn't want to give Paul the wrong idea, even though she wasn't sure exactly what that wrong idea was.

"I…there might be some in that room over there, though they won't be anything special, just hospital scrubs," Paul replied with a serious and almost sad tone to his voice as he pointed with his head over towards a small room just off of the one that they were in.

"Thanks…could you uh…look away while I," Katy started to say with an embarrassed and slightly guilty smile on her face before she couldn't continue and bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing at her actions. Paul seemed to get what she was saying and nodded his head before closing his eyes and looking away. "Thanks," Katy said with a relieved smile on her face as she let the blanket drop and snapped apart the last few bindings before she slid off of the table, thankful that her legs supported her before she wrapped the blanket around her body and made her way over to the small room. Paul had been right and there were a large amount of doctor and nurse's uniforms in the small room. Deciding against seeing what she'd look like in a nurse's outfit Katy quickly pulled on some scrubs and grabbed two more full sets of them before leaving the small room, hoping that they would fit Willow and Jamie.

"Can I look now," Paul asked with a nervous look on his face as true to his word his eyes had remained closed the entire time.

"Yeah, but when I get Willow and Jamie free you'll have to look away again when they get changed," Katy said with a nervous look on her own face as she set the pile of clothes down at the foot of the table that Willow was on and then pulled her hair fully up and out from underneath the collar, trying to act that she hadn't noticed that Paul was staring at her.

"Deal, who are you guys anyway, you don't look like you're sick and you don't look like criminals," Paul agreed at first with a warm smile on his face before he asked a question that he had been wondering about for some time.

"We're not sick, and we're not criminals, like I said before I'm Katy, that's Jamie over there and this is Willow, they're my friends and those Wolfram and Hart bastards jumped us and brought us here for God knows what," Katy answered with a very serious and concerned look on her face as she started to break the bindings that held Willow's arms and legs down to the table.

"I hope they're okay, your friend Willow didn't look to good when they brought her in, they must have really done a number on her," Paul said with a worried look on his face as he shook his head and watched as Katy finished freeing Willow.

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"This is getting us nowhere," Buffy said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she and Spike hastily climbed over a fence, the army of vampires hot on their heels but at the moment having momentarily lost their prey.

"Depends on which side you're on pet, you and I aren't getting anywhere but they are," Spike said with a grim grin on his face as he looked back over his shoulder at the army of vampires that caught sight of them and soon were in hot pursuit.

"What are we going to do now, we're nowhere near the rendezvous point, Angel will go crazy if we're not there on time," Buffy wondered with a nervous look on her face as she and Spike raced across one street and into another alley.

"So let ole Peaches go out of his gourd for a little while, won't hurt him none," Spike said back with a sly grin on his face as they came out of the alley and spotted a sitting motorcycle outside of a pub.

"Get on," Buffy shouted back to Spike as she hopped onto the seat of the motorcycle and was overly relieved when she saw that the keys were still in it.

"Do you know how to drive one of these things luv," Spike asked with a nervous and slightly unsure look on his face before at least part of his question was answered as Buffy turned the key and started the engine.

"Hey…that's my bike," A biker growled with an angry scowl on his face before Buffy guessed right and the two roared off down the street, with Spike's arms wrapped firmly around Buffy's waist, the two heading straight for Angel's rendezvous point.

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"Okay…who's next," Nina exclaimed with a very eager and determined look on her face as she proudly watched the body of one of The Initiative soldiers drop to the ground. She had finally caught up to Angel at the assigned meeting place and soon the two had become almost over run with Initiative soldiers.

"Don't get cocky," Angel exclaimed with a very serious look on his face as he blocked the kick of one of the soldiers before knocking that soldier out with a hard right to the temple.

"I'm not cocky, I'm confidant," Nina shouted back with a slightly hurt and angry scowl on her face before she smashed one of the soldiers in the head with the hilt of her weapon.

"Are you now," Angel quipped back with a sly grin on his face as he put one soldier in a headlock and then kneed another in the groin.

"Don't make fun of me," Nina grumbled with an angry and frustrated glare on her face before she was hit in the ribs from behind, a hit that sent her to her knees.

"Nina," Angel shouted in alarm as he flung the soldiers that he had been fighting away and rushed to Nina's side, blocking a swing that was meant for her head before he delivered a straight kick to that soldiers chest, sending him back through an old wooden door.

"She's hurt move in for the…hcckk," One of the soldiers shouted with a confidant and excited tone to his voice before a bullet ripped through his throat and he dropped to his knees, clutching his neck as it gushed blood.

"What," Nina gasped out with a very pained look on her face before her question was answered in the form of a swift kick to the chest of another of the soldiers.

"We leave you two alone for five seconds and you've already got half The Initiative on your asses," Faith said with a very disapproving look on her face before she broke into a grin as she then elbowed another of the soldiers.

"What are you doing here, I thought I told you to," Angel started to say with an angry and confused look on his face before Wesley stepped out of the shadows and blew away another of the soldiers.

"We tried that, but you know Faith…impatient to a fault," Wesley replied with a sly grin on his face as he looked back to Angel and then over his shoulder as Faith snapped her head around and scowled heavily at him.

"Where are Lindsey and Lilah," Angel shouted back with an unhappy scowl on his face as he hoped that this night already wasn't a total loss and that it might be possible to salvage at least a little bit of his plan.

"Don't know, after how we bugged out I'm guessing that they won't be long," Faith answered with a slightly guilty look on her face before she rolled out of the way of another attack and snapped the ankle of another of the soldiers with a swift kick to his shin.

"We stalled them as long as we could, but after I shot at them…well things went downhill pretty quickly after that," Wesley added with an awkward expression on his face as he hurried to Angel's side and helped him get Nina over to where she could sit down and catch her breath.

"I wonder why," Angel snapped back with an annoyed scowl on his face before Nina interrupted and kept him from saying anything further by laying a hand on his arm and letting out a pained moan.

"You two going to start arguing or are we going to fight, I kind of like my head where it is an unless the two of you," Faith started to say with an angry scowl on her face before she was interrupted suddenly as many blindingly bright lights were switched on, lights that brought the fighting to an immediate halt as all involved became instantly far more concerned with shielding their eyes. "Ahh…damn it, I can't see anything, Wesley," Faith grunted in a stunned panic as she did her best to shield her eyes with one hand and arm while using the other to try and find Wesley through the glare.

"Faith I'm," Wesley exclaimed with a nervous and very concerned tone to his voice before he and Faith bumped into each other as he put the gun that he had been using back into its holster. Almost immediately he grabbed Faith around the waist and then spun the two into one of the abandoned warehouses through an old decaying door and the two dropped to the floor.

"What's wrong Angel, can't stand the heat," Lindsey snarled with an overly confident grin on his face as he stayed well behind the bank of supremely powerful lights, wearing protective glasses to protect himself.

"Daddy's been a bad boy, he played nicely with the half breed girl, gonna have to be taught a lesson isn't he Ms. Edith," Drusilla added in her usual sing song tone of voice as she closed her eyes and then began to hum softly to herself.

"Can't we sedate her or something," Lilah grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away.

"Angel in here quick," Faith whispered harshly back to Angel through the open doorway before he used the sound of her voice and the smell of Wesley's guns to direct him as he grabbed Nina's arm and led her out of the light. The second that all were inside Nina hazarded a peek and blinked her eyes several times to make sure that she could still see.

"Another fine mess you've gotten us into," Wesley said with an oddly sarcastic tone of voice that to the casual observer would sound as if he was truly angry with his old friend. But to someone that knew the two better they would be able to tell that instead Wesley was being bitterly sarcastic and wouldn't dream of being anywhere else in the world, except of course in bed with Faith and plenty of alcohol.

"Well I know how you like parties," Angel joked back with a sly but yet serious at the same time grin on his face as he slowly made his way back to the edge of the doorway.

"Give up Angelus, we already have your friends back at the mansion, it was stupid of you to split up like this, you left them completely unprotected, but don't worry they're not dead yet, the former old one will make a prized subject for our medical personnel to look at, once they've cut her open of course," Lindsey added with a mocking tone to his voice as he motioned to one of the Wolfram and Hart guards and the lights were dimmed to an acceptable level for everyone as Lindsey stepped out from behind them.

"Like we're ever going to let that happen," Nina grumbled with a very determined look on her face as she stayed crouched down against the wall but started to quickly look around the abandoned building for anything that she could use as a weapon. She had settled on an old tire iron when Angel spoke up.

"You can play your games all you want Lindsey, but one way or another…this all ends tonight," Angel declared with a very serious tone to his voice as he carefully stepped out of the building and soon stood staring Lindsey down, with only a short distance between them.

END OF CHAPTER 44


	45. Getting Free And Showing Up

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 45-GETTING FREE AND SHOWING UP**

Paul kept his word and kept his head turned as Katy helped slip the still unconscious Willow into her scrubs before she laid her back down on the table and went to free Jamie. By the time that Katy had fully ripped off all of Jamie's restraints Willow was beginning to come around while Paul tried not to peek.

"I'm next…right," Paul asked with a nervous and slightly scared tone of voice as he shuffled his feet a bit and continued to look down at the floor.

"Uh yeah, once I convince myself that you are not some Wolfram and Hart spy or something like that," Katy replied with a slight stammer to her voice as she was yet to fully extend her trust to Paul though didn't want to ruin things between them if he was telling the truth and was really on her side.

"Good, I don't know why they kidnapped me but I don't think that it was because of my good looks," Paul said with a worried tone to his voice before he added a bit of self deprecating humor in at the end. Across the room Katy started to slip the last shirt onto Jamie but couldn't help but smile at his statement.

"So then what do you do," Katy asked with an interested tone to her voice as she turned away briefly from Jamie to get the pants part of the scrubs.

"I…well I play computer games mostly, I test new games out for various companies to see if I can find any bugs, it's not the most glamorous job in the universe but it pays our bills," Paul answered with a slight shrug of his shoulders and a slightly sloppy grin on his face before he shifted his gaze from the floor to the legs of the chair that he was sitting in before Katy spoke again.

"Our bills, you married or something," Katy asked softly with a content look on her face as she laid Jamie's head back down on the table and started to hurry over to Willow's side as the red headed witch was beginning to blink her eyes against the light.

"I wish, I have three dogs, I rescued them all from shelters when they were young," Paul replied with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face as he looked up finally from the legs of the chair that he was sitting in and watched as Willow finally got the bright light obstacle out of the way.

"K…Katy, where are we, and why does my head feel like a maraca," Willow stammered out almost in a whisper with a pained look on her face as she struggled to sit up, finally doing so with a lot of Katy's help.

"I don't really know, but wherever we are we can't stay here, we need to find the others and get out of here," Katy replied with a nervous smile on her face as she did her best to hide the fear in her voice.

"Hmpf, I'm getting to old for this," Willow mumbled with a pained smile on her face as with Katy's help she slid off of the table and stayed upright while she tried to get her stomach and the cannons going off in her head to quiet down. It took what felt like an hour but she was finally able to open her eyes and get a good look around the room without getting a migraine as a result.

"Good she can walk, now could you please help me out a little, my hands are starting to go numb," Paul interjected with a nervous and anxious tone to his voice as he looked across the room at Katy, who was still at Willow's side helping her stay standing.

"Hold your horses, she just woke up, and Jamie's still out, we're not leaving and you're not getting free until everyone's ready to go," Katy snapped back with more a frustrated and worried tone to her voice than angry but she mentally kicked herself for the harshness of her tone when she glanced briefly out of the corner of her eye and saw the hurt and scared look on Paul's face.

"But…we don't even know if the rest of your friends are even being held here, London's a big city, they could be anywhere, my hands will fall off if we wait that long," Paul stammered out with at first a look of fear and disbelief on his face before he regained his composure and put a point to Katy that she had been trying to not think about.

"Busted," Willow mumbled with a half smile on her face as she leaned heavily on the table as she took a few cautionary steps.

"Okay…so he has a point, what just because he's kind of cute we should, what are you looking at me like that for," Katy started to whisper back to Willow as she leaned in closer to help her stand before she noticed the odd look on Willow's face.

"Nothing…come on just untie him and lets go, we need to find the others and get out of here before they notice that we're not unconscious anymore," Willow replied with a slightly cheesy grin on her face before she looked over at Paul briefly, allowing her eyes to briefly cloud over, before clearing them and returning her gaze to Katy.

"If you say so, but if he turns out to be evil I am so gonna kick your ass," Katy grumbled back with an impatient pout on her face before she turned and went to untie Paul.

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"It always seems to come down to the two of us, doesn't it Angelus, kind of funny in a way…almost poetic," Lindsey said with a confidant sneer on his face as he took a couple of steps towards Angel.

"Only in a twisted sense of irony, Lorne apparently didn't kill you dead enough," Angel said with a very serious and determined look on his face before a crack appeared as he stopped to ponder if what he had just said made sense. Confidant that he didn't look like an idiot he pulled his hands out of his pockets and looked over Lindsey's shoulder at Dru, who was clutching the doll tightly to her chest, seemingly unaware of what was transpiring around her.

"Here one minute and gone the next, kind of like your chances of making it out of this in one piece don't ya think handsome," Lilah added with a fair amount of scorn and mockery in her voice as she smiled back at Angel and shook her head and Dru's continued isolation.

"What can I say, I like being the underdog," Angel said back with a carefree and easygoing shrug of his shoulders and smile on his face as he rubbed the end of the hilt of a dagger that he had in his belt with the pad of this thumb, ready for anything.

"Don't tell me that you subscribe to that inaccurate dogma of it's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog, please…everyone has always known that might makes right, and when you don't have that on your side…cheat," Lindsey snarled back with a very mocking tone of voice as he couldn't help but grin from ear to ear and scratch the back of his ear.

"That the Wolfram and Hart playbook," Angel quipped back with a daring smirk on his face as he kept his hand at his waist, ready to draw the knife if the need arose.

"Pretty much, but come on Angel, you use it to, using a super powerful witch friend to free your soul instead of finding it for yourself or having one of your pitiful band of rejects do it for you," Lindsey said back with still a mocking look in his eyes and tone to his voice before Nina swallowed her fear and stepped out, holding onto a twisted metal bar.

"Yeah well buster, that pitiful little band of his has the goods on you, you and all of Wolfram and Hart, The Initiative to, you make one wrong move and we put it all up on e-bay, I wonder how long your competitors will take before they pay us whatever we ask them to, not to mention the news media, then there's the army, and all of those fanboys that'll think you're cool and probably ask you if you've done any demons chicks," Nina interjected with a very serious and slightly mocking tone to her own voice as she carefully made her way across the empty street towards Angel, never taking her eyes off of Lindsey for a second.

"Ah the werewolf, I was wondering when that monstrosity would show its face," Lilah said with a clearly mocking tone of voice and sneer on her face as she stepped in front of Drusilla and crossed her arms.

"Why you," Nina started to growl, aided by a bit of growling from her inner werewolf, as she took an angry step forwards before being stopped by Angel as he laid a hand on her arm.

"Easy, don't let her get to you, she's trying to throw you off your game, don't listen to her," Angel grumbled with an unhappy look on his face as he held Nina back while trying to keep himself from ripping Lilah limb from limb.

"That's easier said than done, Lilah can be very persuasive when she wants to be, though I could just make this easy on all of us," Wesley added with a sarcastically mocking tone to his voice as he walked calmly out of the building, keeping his gun aimed directly in between Lilah's eyes the entire time.

"What…and rob me of the pleasure of snapping her neck, I don't think so," Faith interjected with an impatient and falsely offended pout on her face as she followed close at Wesley's side, sliding her knife out as she went.

"Ah the posturing of fools, I'd forgotten how funny that could be," Lindsey snapped back with a hearty chuckle as he briefly turned back to a smiling Lilah and a spaced out looking Drusilla.

"Looks like Lorne didn't kill you well enough," Angel glowered with an unhappy scowl on his face as he slid the knife out of its sheath but kept it hidden up the sleeve of his duster.

"Oh no, your Pylean friend did his job, though I must say that he could have chosen a better way to kill me, guns are so messy," Lindsey said back with a clearly mocking tone of voice as he pulled his shirt open to reveal a scarred over gunshot wound.

"I would have preferred that he decapitate you but…you know, that would have been even messier, but come to think of it you don't see to be to devastated about Eve, poor thing was in love with you till the end, she wouldn't even leave the building after I killed Hamilton, that's love for ya," Angel said with a sinister smirk on his face as he took another step towards Lindsey, who by this time could tell that Angel was through joyfully playing his part in their little verbal war.

"Eve made her decision and I stand beside that decision," Lindsey said with an oddly uncomfortable look on his face as his wall of confidence cracked a bit.

"A bit odd though don't you think, Eve not being here and all, maybe she's not dead," Faith interjected with her usual amount of sarcasm and honesty as she pressed herself up against Wesley, so that the moment that he made his move she could make one of her own without giving Lindsey or Lilah any time to react.

"Don't be silly Faith, of course she's dead, she couldn't have survived the collapse, Lindsey supposedly loved her and he goes and lets her die like that…pitiful," Angel chimed in with a sing song grin on his face as he took a half step closer to Lindsey but kept an eye on Nina, who still looked ready to fight in a heartbeat.

"This is stupid, why haven't we killed them already," Lilah growled with an angry and frustrated scowl on her face as she stormed up to Lindsey and elbowed him on the arm.

"Because Lilah, unlike you the Senior Partners have something called patience, they have something special planned for Angel and the others, we only need to keep them from escaping," Lindsey replied softly in a forced calm tone of voice as he gently rubbed his arm where Lilah had elbowed him and took a step back.

"We're not the rebel fleet and you're not the empire…uh, okay maybe a little to much information," Nina stated at first with a very confidant and mocking tone to her voice before she fully realized what it was that she was saying and blushed deeply before quickly finishing. For a few fleeting seconds no one could think of anything to say. The tension was broken by the sound of an approaching motorcycle.

"What now…look out," Angel started to say with a frustrated and unhappy scowl on his face before he noticed that the motorcycle wasn't going to stop or even slow down and grabbed Nina and hurled them both out of the way. The motorcycle flashed past them and then crashed into one of the stands of lights, sending sparks and pieces of broken glass flying everywhere. Faith grabbed the front of Wesley's coat and pulled hard, sending them both tumbling back into the empty warehouse, safe from any falling debris.

"Well pet you certainly know how to make an entrance," Spike joked with a humorous smile on his face as Angel and the others lifted their heads to see Spike and Buffy sitting up in a pile of trash after having leapt off of the motorcycle at the last possible moment.

"Thanks," Buffy returned with a proud smile on her face before her look changed to grossed out as she picked something way past its expiration date out of her hair.

"Damn fools, what do you think you're doing, get them," Lindsey howled with a furious sneer on his face as he shoved a dead guard off of him and stood back up, not looking back to see how Lilah and Drusilla had fared.

"Spike," Angel growled with an outraged scowl on his face as he pushed himself up off of the ground and momentarily slipped his game face on.

"Easy there Peaches, it was her idea, I was just along for the ride," Spike said quickly with a deadly serious expression on his face as he pulled his hands back from Buffy before Nina sat up and grabbed onto Angel, making sure that he would worry about her rather than go after Spike.

"He's right Angel, but blaming me can wait until after the fight," Buffy said with a nervous and anxious look on her face before she let Spike pull her up to her feet and ready herself for the first wave of Wolfram and Hart security forces that were now racing towards them, nightsticks at ready.

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"Oh this is bad, this is bad," Morgan mumbled with a scared look on her face as she hid behind Connor as he stood at the window watching the Wolfram and Hart soldiers fan out.

"Well, we were supposed to provide a distraction for Angel, looks like he's going to get exactly what he wanted," Gwen said with an almost excited half smile on her face as she glanced out of the window briefly before finishing off her mug.

"There are so many, it may not be wise to take them all on at once, we should use subterfuge," Groo added with a sincere and thoughtful smile on his face as he stood up from his seat and patted Connor on the back.

"That won't work, even if we do manage to sneak around and take a few of them out before they realize what's going on there'd still be to many at the end, I wonder how trigger-happy they are," Connor replied with a concerned and contemplative look on his face as he watched the soldiers fan out and secure area after area.

"Almost makes one wish that those Initiative boys would show up, then we'd see a real fight," Gwen chimed in with a sly smirk on her face as she leaned back in her chair and glanced up at Groo.

"We could only be so lucky," Connor said sarcastically with a very serious and grim look on his face as he continued to watch the Wolfram and Hart soldiers.

"Okay so we can't just run out there and take them all on, so then what's the plan," Morgan asked with a confused and worried look on her face as she stepped out from behind Connor and sat down at the table beside Gwen.

"Maybe if we could cause some sort of disturbance out there those soldiers would do all of the work for us, they seem pretty on edge as is, I doubt that they'd need much enticing to do something that'd bring everyone with a badge in this city down here, the only thing is I don't know what that would be," Connor said with a nervous and anxious look on his face as he shook his head and leaned forward a bit to look out the side of the window.

"What if we got a grenade or something like that away from one of them, then we'd set it off in the middle of a group of them somehow and then they'd start shooting each other, that'd bring the cops here, wouldn't it," Morgan offered with a worried but hopeful look on her face as she started off looking straight across the table at Gwen before turning her gaze to first Groo and then finally to Connor.

"It could work, though whoever got the grenade and then set it off would have to be quick about it and know what they were doing, plus they'd have to be pretty crazy," Connor said with a stern and slightly unsupportive tone to his voice as he crossed his arms and scowled while keeping his gazing locked on the window.

"Okay you convinced me, I'll do it, just get ready to run if this doesn't work," Gwen said with a sarcastic sigh and shrug of her shoulders before she finished off her mug, set it down on the table and walked calmly out of the pub, all that before Connor, Groo, or Morgan could say something.

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"Do you know where you're going," Paul asked with a worried look on his face as he pushed Jamie in a wheelchair down the hallway as Katy walked out front acting as a scout and guard.

"Not really…but I know that we have to keep moving," Katy replied with a nervous look on her face as she turned back towards Paul and Jamie.

"Maybe we should find a nurse and ask her where to go, or at least try to find one of those maps that shows the different levels of the hospital, at least then we'd have an idea where to go," Willow offered with a tired and weary tone to her voice as she stopped walking and leaned up against the wall to catch her breath.

"We don't have time for that, besides for all we know they could be working for Wolfram and Hart, we have to find your friends and get out of here," Paul replied with a scared look on his face as he briefly stepped away from pushing Jamie to see if Willow could continue on.

"But," Katy began to mumble with a nervous and scared look on her face before Willow turned towards her and interrupted.

"Paul's right Katy, we're probably going to need all of the help that we can get to leave this place, and I'll feel better when I know that Xander, Giles, and Dawn are alright," Willow interjected with a tired look on her face before she turned back, smiled at Paul, and then started off down the hallway past a sputtering Katy.

"So now you're on his side, we still don't know if he's on their side," Katy grumbled with a defeated and almost whiney tone of voice as Paul pushed Jamie by her, before she hurried back towards the front of the group and drew even with Willow.

"He's on our side Katy, trust me, I checked his aura while you were getting Jamie into the wheelchair, you might want to be nicer to him in the future to, if you two wanna," Willow whispered softly to Katy with an ever growing smile on her face as the two continued to walk down the hallway before she let her voice trail off.

END OF CHAPTER 45


	46. Chapter 46

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 46-OF DISTRACTIONS AND DECISIONS**

"Well this ought to be fun eh Peaches," Spike said with an excited smile on his face just before the first wave of Wolfram and Hart soldiers reached them.

"Shut up Spike," Buffy snapped with a sarcastic scowl on her face before she stepped up in between the two master vampires.

"Come on Wes, we can't let them have all the fun," Faith snickered with a sly grin on her face as she and Wesley helped each other back up to their feet before he gained some leverage by leaping up onto a pile of palates and keeping the swarm of soldiers going after Angel, Spike, and Buffy from becoming to large. Faith used his rain of bullets as cover as she crouched down a bit and sped across the road, slitting the throat of the first soldier to cross her path. Wesley's aim was straight and true as he kept one eye on Faith and kept the other on Lindsey and the guards that surged out towards his friends. Faith used his bullets as a direction finder to tell her which direction to go in. At times she almost broke away from it and started to rush to Angel's side but then the line of bullets had let away and she had followed, wholly trusting that Wesley knew what he was doing.

"Come on Lindsey, you can do better than this," Angel exclaimed with a frustrated and anxious tone to his voice as he kicked away one soldier and then turned to help Nina up after he had inadvertently knocked her down.

"You're right Angel I can, just thought that you might want a little warm up before the real fun begins," Lindsey said back with a proud and confidant smirk on his face before he turned and waved on the hybrids.

"Not these trollops again," Spike groaned with an unhappy and slightly nervous tone to his voice as Buffy hesitated a moment and turned back to question him. She only got a brief look at the expression on his face and the look in his eyes, but from that she was able to garner the fact that the hybrids were trouble, even to the likes of Spike and Angel.

"Trouble," Wesley said in a subtle whisper as Faith leapt backwards and landed at his feet, still in a crouched position.

"You could say that…to paraphrase, shit…meet fan," Faith said back with a sly grin on her face and a slight shrugging of her shoulders as Wesley furiously began to reload before the onslaught overtook them.

"Hey friend, got a light," Gwen stated with a pompous tone to her voice as she casually approached one of the Wolfram and Hart soldiers while pulling a cigarette out of her pocket.

"Who are…stay where you are, don't come any closer," One of the soldiers exclaimed with a very firm tone to his voice as he spun his gun around and aimed the laser sights in the middle of Gwen's forehead.

"Not even if I do this," Gwen asked with a sultry and suggestive tone to her voice as she slowly stepped forward and began to carefully pull down the zipper on her jacket revealing her barely there top.

"Well…I said stay where you," The guard started to reply with a nervous hitch in his voice before Gwen got close enough to take him by surprise with a knee to the stomach and then an elbow to the back of the head.

"She has all the subtlety of a freight train," Connor grumbled with an anxious and annoyed scowl on his face as he shook his head and stepped out of the pub.

"And the sense of a dodo," Morgan grumbled with an unhappy and scared pout on her face as she followed Connor out of the pub, flanked closely by Groo who looked unsure of exactly what any of them were doing.

"I am not familiar with that creature, is it dangerous," Groo asked with a confused and interested look on his face as he and the others got closer to Gwen.

"No it, ah never mind," Morgan exclaimed with an almost annoyed scowl on her face and roll of her eyes before she was interrupted by other Wolfram and Hart soldiers as they saw what Gwen had done to the one soldier.

"Stay where you are," One of the onrushing soldiers shouted with a very firm tone to his voice as Connor stepped forward.

"You know, I've never really been good at following orders, and if I wouldn't listen to my father then you guys are just out of luck," Connor said with a very calm yet determined look on his face as he cocked his head to one side while stepping in front of Gwen and Morgan.

"Get on the ground now," Another of the soldiers shouted loudly as a group of the soldiers began to circle around to either side of the small group.

"Not in this lifetime," Gwen stated with a very matter of fact tone to her voice as she casually zipped her coat back up and then took the initiative and launched herself into the fight by kicking the gun out of one of the soldiers hands before following that up by kicking him in the chest.

"This is so not the way that I wanted this to go," Morgan grumbled angrily under her breath before she threw caution to the wind and tackled the nearest soldier to the ground.

"Shh, quiet," Katy hissed harshly under her breath back to Willow and Paul as the odd quartet edged closer to a corner where at the end of the hallway there stood two armed guards.

"We're being as quiet as we can be Katy," Paul shot back under his breath with a nervous and slightly unhappy frown on his face as he stopped Jamie's wheelchair as silently as he could.

"Well be quieter, if they hear us then we're sunk," Katy shot back in a harsh whisper with a very nervous and scared look on her face as a few splotches of sweat were beginning to show on her scrubs.

"We're aware of that, but we have to get past them, Xander and Giles and the rest of the girls are close, I can feel it," Willow added under her breath in a soft whisper as she slid down the wall and took a seat beside a window.

"Don't worry guys, I'll think of something," Katy said with an optimistic smile on her face, that hid the overwhelming sense of fear that she was feeling, as she squatted down next to Willow.

"What did you have in mind," Paul whispered back with an interested look on his face as he knelt down beside Katy, bumping her shoulder slightly with his own.

"Well there are a couple of gurney's back there, maybe if we push them in front of us straight into those guards then we can take them out before they know what happened," Katy answered with a hopeful look on her face as she leaned on Paul a little.

"We are not going to kill them," Willow stated with a very unwavering look on her face as she immediately collected herself and stared up at Katy, making absolutely sure that the young slayer fully understood her.

"Of course not, we'll knock them out and lock them in a closet, dusting a vamp is one thing, they're evil…but a human being is different, even if they do work for an evil law firm that wanted to cut us open and use us for spare parts," Katy said back with a honest look on her face as she fully turned to Willow and slowly nodded her head.

"Good, so what are Jamie and I supposed to do, I could cast a spell or something to confuse them, it won't knock them out but it may just give you and Paul the element of surprise," Willow offered with a helpful look on her face as he got her second wind and stood back up.

"Good idea, we're going to need all of the help that we can get," Katy said with a scared stiff smile on her face as she grinned over at Paul before dragging him back down the hallway towards the two gurneys.

'This will either end well or with us all dying horrible and painful deaths, bet you're glad that you're unconscious huh Jamie," Willow said softly with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she turned around and checked on Jamie.

"N…not really, not really out…just resting," Jamie mumbled out weakly with an almost ghost like look on her face as she slid her eyes open just a bit and then smiled down at Willow.

"Jamie," Willow started to shriek with an overjoyed smile on her face before she remembered where they were and what they were doing and cut herself off.

"Okay Willow, let's do this," Paul loudly whispered back with a very nervous look on his face as he and Katy got the gurney's back to the corner. Willow started to tell them that Jamie had woken up knew that it could wait and so began to cast the spell.

The initial fight over and the hybrids all around them even Angel was forced to admit that things were beginning to go south. Unlike the common soldiers that Lindsey had sent after them the hybrids seemed to never tire. The only way to take them out was to decapitate them or snap their necks, both of which were easier said than done. Spike, Angel, and Faith had a better time in fighting them as they had tussled previously. Buffy was almost immediately pushed back onto her heels and soon could only fight a defensive battle, never really getting the chance to take the advantage. Wesley had quickly gotten split up from Faith and had been forced back into one of the many abandoned buildings in the hopes of trying to find some way to stem the tide of the battle and not be fighting defensively the entire time. Faith had a slightly better time than the others because for the most part she didn't have anyone to worry about protecting, knowing full well that Wesley could take care of himself. But after several minutes of fierce combat she had looked up and noticed that Wesley was nowhere to be seen. A true moment of panic jolted through her body and her heart skipped a beat. The thought of what if he was dead started to pass through her mind but she quelled it with the fear that she didn't know what she'd do if it were true so that it couldn't be and Wesley was still alive fighting somewhere, she just couldn't see him at the moment. Her answer came shortly after when she heard several gunshots and the pained growls of the hybrids.

"This isn't working," Faith exclaimed with a furious scowl on her face as she hated the fact that they could lose this fight when they were so close to winning only moments before.

"Whatever gave you that idea," Spike shot back with a smug and proud smirk on his face while he leapt up onto the back of one of the hybrids and put it in a headlock, hoping to snap its neck.

"Stop talking and start fighting," Angel growled over the din of the fight as he had his full game face on and was tearing into the hybrids the best that he could.

"Why not just give up now Angel, these hybrids are the best of the best, you can't defeat them, no one can," Lindsey started to shout with an arrogant tone to his voice as he walked back to stand beside Drusilla and Lilah.

"Wanna bet," A musical voice said suddenly from behind them, prompting the three to turn around sharply and be surprised at the sight of Whistler casually standing there looking dressed for a parade.

"Who the hell are you," Lilah growled with a very unhappy and slightly nervous sneer on her face as she looked almost ready to attack.

"You can call me Whistler, sure I'm not much to look at but I'm no wimp…okay actually I am but that's not the point, just admit that you've lost this fight and never bother Angel or any of his friends ever again and I'll go easy on you," Whistler said with at first a very confidant look of power on his face before he couldn't help but smile and admit the truth.

"You must be crazy, we're going to win this fight," Lilah snapped back with an unimpressed sneer on her face as she started to take a step forwards towards Whistler to perhaps wring his neck if he didn't shut up.

"Sorry folks but you've already lost, you just don't know it yet," Whistler chimed back with a highly amused grin on his face as he calmly walked forward, past Lindsey, Lilah, and Drusilla and over to the base of one of the other towers of lights.

"What I know is that in about two seconds you're going to be," Lindsey started to say with a very angry scowl on his face as he walked towards Whistler and was just about to strangle him when Whistler pulled a normal looking file out from behind his back.

"You're serving us papers," Lilah exclaimed with a look of complete and total disbelief on her face as she stepped in front of Drusilla and angrily snatched the file out of Whistler's hands.

"In a manner of speaking, you see boys and girls what you have there is concrete and vital information about what Wolfram and Hart really does on a day to day level, it has information about all of your rich and influential clients, not to mention some tasty little tidbits about the senior partners, doubt that they'd want that to get out," Whistler said with a calm but confidant look on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets and stayed where he was.

"What's this other stuff," Lindsey asked with a nervous and unhappy frown on his face as he pulled out part of the file.

"Not much, just equally damaging data on our friends The Initiative, you see now that Angel and Spike killed their favorite married couple they won't stop until they're both being picked up with a vacuum, and see we just can't have that happen now can we, they both still have so much to set into motion," Whistler replied with a proud smile on his face as he calmly rocked back and forth on his heels.

"You can't be serious," Lilah declared with more than a fair amount of venom in her voice as she glared a hole right through Whistler.

"I'm afraid so…now beautiful our terms aren't that extravagant, the simple gist of them being that you leave Angel and all of his friends alone until they're all dead, and no trying to speed that up, they'll die when it's their appropriate hour trust me, you should see how Spike goes out, it's really spectacular," Whistler answered with a relaxed tone to his voice as he started to walk back past Lilah and Lindsey.

"Why are you doing this, why are you giving us all of this information, why should we even," Lindsey demanded with a slightly haughty laugh as he handed all of the material in the file back to Lilah and turned to face Whistler.

"Maybe because that's not all of the information, that what you have there is just a copy of the dirt that Angel and his friends have on you and The Initiative, just a heads up from me to you," Whistler replied with a soft smile on his face as he casually brushed a bit of soot off of his jacket.

"Wolfram and Hart is an inter-dimensional conglomerate, what makes you think that any of this has any bearing on," Lilah started to grumble with a well-hidden tone of fear to her voice as she stormed up to Whistler and forcefully poked him in the chest before a low and clear voice interrupted her.

"We have a deal puny demon," The voice said as Lilah and Lindsey turned to see a heavily robed figure seemingly materialize out of the darkness and step towards them.

"What…a senior partner," Lindsey said with at first a look of surprise on his face before it changed to one of awe and curiosity.

"A senior partner…hah, don't make me laugh, this is just their emissary, you actually thought that a true member of the senior partners would sully themselves for this," Whistler replied with a hint of mockery in his voice as he smiled and then patted Lindsey on the shoulder.

"Ms. Edith does not like this turn of events, she can't see the stars anymore," Drusilla deadpanned with such a look on her face that seemed to suggest that she had heard absolutely nothing of what had just been said.

"So what now," Lilah said with a stunned look of disbelief on her face as she pushed Whistler away from Lindsey before approaching the robed figure.

"Now the two of you pull back our assets currently being deployed here in London and transfer them to other endeavors, yourselves as well," The heavily robed figure replied without the slightest hint of emotion in its voice before it started to turn away and head back towards the darkness.

"No, this can't be how it ends, I won't allow it, I will have my revenge," Lindsey growled defiantly as he picked up a dropped sword and started to storm towards where Angel and the others were still fighting the hybrids before the heavily robed figure spoke up.

"Not on this night, you will have your revenge…after all, isn't that what loopholes are for, you're a lawyer aren't you…figure it out," The heavily robed figure said softly before it finally turned and walked back into the darkness, snapping its fingers just before fully disappearing. Suddenly and without a sound all of the hybrids and everything related to Wolfram and Hart, save Lilah, Lindsey, and Drusilla, disappeared.

"Just our luck, we get through two guards and what do we find, two more around the next corner," Katy exclaimed harshly under her breath after having taken a peek around the next corner and seeing two more guards.

"I don't think that we can do the whole gurney thing again, we got lucky back there," Paul replied with a nervous and scared look on his face as he checked the locks on one of the doors.

"Maybe we won't have to, I feel a shift in the cosmic aura, something has happened," Willow interjected with a curious but calm tone to her voice as she walked out into the middle of the hallway and looked around.

"A good something…or a bad something," Katy asked with a fearful smile on her face as she stayed tight up against the wall.

"I'd have to say a good thing, the dark cloud that has been hanging over us for days seems to have disappeared," Willow replied with a slightly more relaxed expression on her face as she took in and then let out a deep breath.

"Okay but what about…hey where'd they go," Paul started to ask with an anxious and confused look on his face as he started to peek around the corner but turned back when he didn't see the guards.

"Back to base, the battle's over people we won, time to celebrate," Whistler stated with a very happy smile on his face as he gave Willow a big hug and then marched off down the corridor, merrily singing out loud and off key.

END OF CHAPTER 46

Author's Note: This is not the end of the story; there'll be at least one more chapter if not two. Then comes the partial sequel named Nyet. Still wanting to know if I should make Jamie and Willow a couple and what I should do with Kennedy, Rhett, and Scarlet. Reviews are welcome.


	47. To Party Or Not To Party

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Michelle, Katy, and Morgan.**

**CHAPTER 47-TO PARTY OR NOT TO PARTY**

Faith sat on the edge of their bed, staring out of the window and watching a small bird hop around on a branch. She sat and thought how badly she envied that little brown bird. No worries in life other than finding food, staying out of trouble, and finding the right mate. Though as she continued to watch the small bird Faith felt forced to acknowledge that she had found at least two of those three concerns, with though the third one being an entirely different matter. Two days had passed since Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative had left London and since then Faith just hadn't felt right, something was off. At the desk on the other side of the room Wesley could feel it to, when their lives were constantly in danger everything had a purpose, had meaning. But now that the threat had been seemingly taken away they weren't sure exactly what to do.

"We could always go drop in on your," Faith started to offer up with a nervous shrug of her shoulders, as she continued to stare out of the window, before Wesley cut in.

"I was dead…and my parents didn't even make the effort to acknowledge it, my childhood home is the last place that we're going to go," Wesley interjected with a serious look on his face as he looked up from the journal that he had been writing in all morning.

"So you're assuming that I'm just going to follow you around like a lost puppy," Faith asked with a sarcastic edge to her voice as she couldn't help but smile as she stood up and walked over to stand behind him.

"Not exactly, I was thinking more like as a partner," Wesley replied with a slightly curious expression on his face as he only half turned and looked up at Faith before her hands found his shoulders and she gave them a quick strong squeeze.

"I think I could live with that, though I'd have to get a whole shit-load of benefits," Faith said with a shrug of her own shoulders as she tried her best to sound as if she could care less if she went with him or not.

"Oh really, and just what benefits would those be," Wesley asked with an amused smile on his face as he laid down his pen, grabbed Faith's hand, and then pulled her down sideways onto his lap.

"Well plenty of booze, sex, and rock and roll…with just enough slaying thrown in to keep it interesting," Faith replied with a proud pout on her face as she slowly reached up and pulled Wesley's glasses off of his face.

"You drive a hard bargain my dear," Wesley said back with a fake look of seriousness on his face as he cupped Faith's chin in his left hand and gently rubbed his thumb along her bottom lip.

"I like to play rough," Faith purred back with a proud and arrogant grin on her face before Wesley pulled her into a smoldering kiss that would lead too much more before the day was done.

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They had secluded themselves away in the highest room of David's mansion, locking the door behind them and asking that no one bother them for the next several hours. Bringing to old chairs with them they each took a seat and stared out of the window on either side of the room. Spike faced north and Angel faced south, both bound and determined to not share anything. Not a word was spoken between them for three hours, leaving both to be alone with his thoughts and brood in total peace and quiet. Angel spent the time debating what to do next and if Wolfram and Hart and The Initiative were going to keep their word. The Initiative hadn't been happy when Whistler visited them later on that night, after his talk with Lilah and Lindsey, but in the end their fear of being discovered had outweighed their hatred of anything that wasn't entirely human. The army of vampires had been contained by the combined efforts of the Wolfram and Hart soldiers and The Initiative, a partnership that both sides were quick to dissolve. Spike spent his time trying to decide what to do with his relationship with Buffy, to decide if he had done enough growing to be with her fully.

"So what now," Spike finally asked with a bored look on his face as he stood up and leaned on one of the rafters.

"Now Spike we count our blessings and move on, personally though Nina and I are going to take a long vacation, maybe Nepal or somewhere remote, where we can be together without any interruptions, I could find a place that had somewhere for her to stay during that time of the month when she turns, and we could be happy," Angel replied with a small shrug of his shoulders as he turned around in his chair and looked up at Spike.

"What about Connor, you just going to vamoose out of here with her without telling him," Spike questioned with a calm but serious look on his face as he started to walk forwards towards Angel.

"I'll tell him where we're going and give him some way to get in touch with me if he needs to, who knows maybe I'll learn how to use a computer and we can email each other every day, what about you and Buffy, are you two going back to Rome together," Angel answered with a nervous smile on his face before he turned the question around on Spike.

"Not sure yet, though it's tempting I think that there's still something that I have to do before I can truly be with her, just hope that whatever it is it doesn't take very long, I don't want to lose her again," Spike said with a very sincere and concerned tone to his voice before he stopped walking and leaned up against one of the beams and looked down at his boots.

"Just don't hurt her, I'll know if you do," Angel stated with a deadly serious but slightly reassuring tone to his voice as he looked up at Angel before there was a knock at the door.

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"How do you feel," Maria asked with a concerned look on her face as she handed Xander a glass of water and a few pills.

"Like someone's playing racquetball in my head," Xander replied with a weak but appreciative smile on his face as he took the pills and the water from Maria.

"Ouch, that doesn't sound like to much fun," Maria said back with a sympathetic smile on her face as he unintentionally laid her hand flat on Xander's back and slowly began to rub small circles with it on his back.

"Trust me it's not, not as bad as the time that I got syphilis though, probably shouldn't have said that," Xander replied at first with a slightly dopey smile on his face before Maria instantly pulled her hand way when he mentioned syphilis.

"Okay I think that I'm just going to go now," Maria said with a nervous and slightly scared look on her face as she quickly got up and walked away, leaving Xander to pop the pills into his mouth and then wash them down with the glass of water.

"Missing the mojo," Willow asked with an amused smirk on her face as she walked by Xander and then sat down beside him on the couch.

"No…just me and my big mouth screwing things up again," Xander mumbled back with an unhappy pout on his face as he set the glass down on the coffee table in front of him.

"So what else is new," Willow replied quickly with an overly happy grin on her face as she jokingly gave him a hug.

"Real funny there Will, you should take your act on the road, you'd slay em with it," Xander glumly replied as he shook his head and then leaned back in his seat.

"Not until after we all get back to Rome and make sure that we update our records," Giles interjected with a serious look on his face as he walked up behind them with many large files in his hands and his glasses perched on the end of his nose. Ever since being freed from Wolfram and Hart he had been compiling data about everything that had happened, wanting to leave nothing to chance and make sure that he didn't forget anything, opening files on all of the new slayers that he had met since coming to London.

"Well you can have fun doing that without me, ain't no way in hell that I'm going to Rome," Katy stated with a very sure of herself tone of voice as she sat up in her chair and peeked over the top of the newspaper that she was reading.

"Why are you still here," Xander asked with a very unhappy frown on his face as he glared across the room at Katy before Willow elbowed him in the ribs to shut up.

"Because frankly I really don't have anywhere else to go, my apartment back in California's probably been cleared out by now and I can't exactly go back and act like nothing's happened," Katy said back with a defensive and somber look on her face as she kept her gaze locked back on Xander.

"You could always come back to Rome with us…not to stay, just until you get your feet back under you and figure out what you want to do," Willow offered with a nervous and hesitant smile on her face as she tried to play peacemaker.

"Sorry but I made my bed in California and that's where I'm headed, at least at first, I do have some money left in the bank, I just hope that I haven't been declared legally dead or something," Katy replied with a gracious smile on her face as she turned down Willow's offer before returning to glaring at first Giles and then at Xander.

"Well if they have frozen all of your assets you could always come back to Florida with me and stay at my house, after I explain it all to them I'm sure that my parents would understand and let you stay with us as long as you needed to," Maria interjected with a calm and optimistic expression on her face as she walked back into the room, eying Xander with a combination of nervousness and a slightly sly smile.

"I'm not sure if that would be the wisest course of action, we should stay together in large groups whenever possible, at least until we're sure that we can trust The Initiative and Wolfram and Hart," Giles stated with a concerned and serious look on his face as he walked around the end of the couch to stand beside Xander and Willow.

"Then you'll wait forever, we have to live our lives now because we probably won't get to later, if Katy and Maria want to go to Florida then they should go," Angel interjected with a very serious frown on his face as he walked slowly into the room with Spike, Buffy, and Nina trailing along behind him.

"Damn right…oh and if it's at all possible could you take the dweeb with you, he's really starting to get on my nerves," Spike added with a very confidant tone to his voice and look on his face as he carefully sits down on the arm of the couch, before pulling Buffy down onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I heard that," Andrew exclaimed from the other room as everyone in the room couldn't help but smile at how he said it.

"Since when did you start making the decisions for everybody, I don't remember that vote," Xander exclaimed with an unhappy scowl on his face as he glared at Angel with his one good eye.

"Don't you ever shut up," Katy snapped with an impatient sneer on her face before she stood up and let Michelle sit down as the blonde slayer looked more than a little tired.

"I'm not making decisions for anyone Xander, all I know is that we all got into this mess because we thought that we knew everything, that we had all of our bases covered, well guess what people we didn't, right now we're in a grace period, and I for one am going to take full advantage of it and I strongly suggest that you all do the same, because it won't last forever," Angel stated with a very calm but firm tone of voice as he walked around the room, looking each and every person in the eye.

"Angel's right, we lost to much because we couldn't trust each other, I won't make that same mistake again, and save the lecture Giles because I don't want to hear it, we're not turning our backs on our friends this time, you were dead wrong before and any thoughts of not helping each other out right now should just be kept to yourself," Buffy added with a very firm tone of voice, as she slid her hand into Spike's and gave his hand a quick squeeze, as she glared straight across the room at Giles, who was left to sputter in stunned silence at the forcefulness of her words.

"Well said pet," Spike whispered softly to Buffy before he leaned in close and lightly placed a soft kiss on her neck, something that sent a pleasant shiver down her spine and brought a smile to her face, if only briefly.

"Well said Buffy, though Michelle and I were talking and if its alright with everyone we were thinking of having a little party tomorrow night, you know to celebrate us all making it through this, since this might be the last time that we're all together for awhile and all," Willow added with a nervous and slightly scared smile on her face as she looked first to Buffy, then to Angel, and then back over to Giles.

"Ah…I'm not really in the whole party mood," Angel started to say with a hesitant expression on his face before Nina cut in.

"Come on Angel it sounds like fun, besides when was the last time that you were at a party," Nina interrupted with an excited and enthusiastic grin on her face as she stepped into the room and then whirled back around to face Angel.

"Does the Wolfram and Hart Halloween party count, it was a blast, at least until Lorne's sleep or whatever the bloody hell it was showed up and started killing people," Spike interjected with an amused smirk on his face as Buffy studied him with a confused look on her face.

"I don't know, I'm just not really a party kind of guy," Angel stuttered and stammered out with an embarrassed and nervous expression on his face before he was interrupted by Wesley and Faith's arrival into the room.

"Could it possibly be because you can't dance worth shit," Faith chimed in with a highly amused and sarcastic grin on her face as she stepped forward and then lightly punched Angel on the arm.

"That's not it, not it at all, it's just that," Angel tried to say with a nervous and unsure look on his face as he lowered his gaze to the sleeves of his shirt.

"He can't dance," Wesley informed the others with a sly grin on his face as he slid an arm across Faith's back before he hooked one of the loops of Faith's jeans with his thumb.

"Neither can you," Angel shot back with an almost childlike look of fear on his face as he crossed his arms and glared over at Wesley.

"True however I don't think that we should use our inability to dance as a reason to not have a party, I think that it's a great idea, just as long as we don't go crazy with the planning, something quiet and subdued," Wesley replied with a slightly guilty smile on his face and nod of his head before Faith leaned back up against him and snickered.

"See Angel, it's a great idea, we can have it tomorrow night, it'll be fun, besides we might not have a chance to party like this for awhile, so we should take advantage of it while we can," Nina exclaimed with an excited smile on her face as she took one of Angel's hands into her own and gave it a squeeze.

"Oh alright, you can have a party, just as long as I don't have to dance," Angel replied with a defeated look on his face as he shook his head and tried not to sound to sad about it.

"Great, we can use that big storage room for the party, we'll just need to clean it out and spruce it up a bit, wanna give me a hand with that Xander," Maria said with an interested smile on her face before she turned and looked up at Xander with a warm smile on her face.

"Well I don't know, maybe I should," Xander began to stammer with a nervous and slightly embarrassed look on his face before Willow shoved him out of his seat.

"Of course he'll help you, right Xander," Willow said with a confidant and sly smile on her face as she told Xander with her eyes to go with Maria.

"Y…Yeah, of course I'll help you, just remember I have a depth perception problem," Xander stammered out with a nervous and awkward expression on his face as he did his best to smile at Maria before he followed her out of the room.

"If we're going to do this then we're going to do it right, that means somebody has to get the music and the decorations and the food, I think that Giles should handle the food," Dawn said with an excited and energized smile on her face as she almost literally bounded into the room and threw an arm around Spikes shoulders.

"Uh no, now way, we can't let him get the food, he'll get food like little sandwiches and punch, I grew out of that kind of a party years ago," Katy interrupted with a very certain and serious tone to her voice as she walked out from behind Michelle's chair and shook her head.

"Oh no, and what would you have, I don't believe that I know what kind of food that they serve in a brothel, perhaps you could enlighten us a bit about that," Giles replied with a bit to arrogant of a tone to his voice as he did his best to keep a smile from his face but the edges of his mouth curled up into a haughty smirk at the end.

"Giles," Dawn said with a stunned and shocked look on her face and tone to her voice as her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide at Giles' comment.

"What did you say," Katy snapped with an outraged scowl on her face as she took a step towards Giles before Paul jumped up from his place by the desk and stepped in between them.

"Easy Katy," Paul said with a very nervous and scared look on his face as he half wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her back and away from Giles.

"I will not take it easy, how dare you even hint that," Katy started to growl with a furious scowl on her face as she let Paul continue to pull her away from Giles.

"Oh come off it, do you really expect us to believe that," Giles started to say with a roll of his eyes and a haughty expression on his face before Katy interrupted.

"That what, that I've never had sex…well guess what I haven't, I'm a virgin okay, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it," Katy growled back sharply with an unhappy scowl on her face before she turned and stormed out of the room, leaving Paul to hurry after her and Giles to try to not look to much like a prick.

END OF CHAPTER 47

END OF CHAPTER 47, with one more coming before Nyet being the interim sequel and then the full one named Effects coming after Nyet is done, that is if people still want there to be one.

Author's Note: Just wondering about pairings, should I pair Willow and Jamie up, Xander and one of the new slayers, Buffy/Spike, Angel/Nina, and Wesley/Faith aren't going to change but most of the others are or can.


	48. Until We Meet Again

CONSEQUENCES 

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Morgan, and Michelle.**

**Author's Note: This is the end of Consequences, Nyet is the short-range sequel and if people want I'll write the full sequel to this story named Effects. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story.**

**CHAPTER 48-UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN**

The preparations for the party had gone down without the slightest hitch. Though at first opposed to the idea Angel had warmed up to it after he saw Nina begin to relax and put the murders of her sister and niece behind her and try to get on with her life. The warmth in her smile had returned and in the end he helped set up some of the decorations. Spike had spent much of the time before the party with Buffy, going on long walks together every night and not returning until just before sunrise, often smelling of the woods and the earth. Giles had tried to assert some authority and get the new slayers back into a training schedule with most of them dutifully following his lead, however Katy and Morgan had led a group that spent their time focusing on the party. Groo and Gwen had mostly stayed out of the mansion in a hotel room in London, barely taking any calls being mostly mum on whether or not they'd attend the party. Wesley and Faith were the oddity amongst them all. Unlike before Faith had taken an interest in helping Wesley do research and dig into the past in between training sessions that consisted of just the two of them. Andrew had made a joke that she was only doing it so that she would get a reward later on when the two were alone.

"This isn't supposed to be one of them fancy parties is it, because I don't do well at those," David asked with a worried look on his face as he stood in front of a mirror and made once face after another.

"Why, you thinking about getting lucky," Spike quipped with a sly grin on his face as he halfway turned and looked back over his shoulder at David while sipping from a bottle of beer.

"What…no, I…just don't want to embarrass myself," David replied with a scared look on his face as he took a step back away from the mirror and turned and looked back at Spike.

"I don't think that you'll have to worry about that David, besides tonight is a night to relax and have fun without worrying about what we all just survived," Wesley replied with a small yawn before he rubbed his eyes.

"Faith keep you up late all night again," Connor asked with a sly grin on his face as he leaned over and grinned.

"You know what Connor, you're just like your father," Wesley said back with a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he tried not to smile at Connor's question.

"How so," Angel asked with a confused look on his face as he sat up straight in his chair and lightly glared over at Wesley.

"You're both about as subtle as Godzilla," Spike said back with a sly grin on his face before he took another sip of his beer.

"I thought that was you," Wesley added with a small smirk on his face before he twisted off the top of his bottle of beer.

"This is so exciting, we band of brothers stood shoulder to shoulder and defeated the denizens of the deep," David stated with a very proud and awed tone to his voice and look on his face as he stepped in between Wesley and Spike's chairs.

"Come again," Spike said with a very calm and not to happy frown on his face as he stopped in mid sip of his beer to turn his head to the side and look up at David.

"He means that we came together and defeated Wolfram and Hart and now we're connected for the rest of our lives," Connor interrupted with an amused smirk on his face as he turned to Spike and nodded his head.

"There wasn't a theme to this party was there, because I don't know about any of you but my clothing options is quite limited at the moment after coming back from the dead and," Wesley started to ask with a concerned look on his face as he sat up in his chair before Angel answered him.

"Maria and Willow have everything planned out and there isn't a theme, besides most of us here aren't in any real mood to dress up and party, it'll just be a normal party…at least I hope that it'll just be a normal party," Angel replied with a steadily growing nervous look on his face as he wrung his hands in an attempt to calm his nerves before Connor launched into another question that started a round of discussion that lasted until just before the party was to begin.

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"Do you think that I should wear the red dress or the blue dress," Morgan asked Dawn with a worried look on her face as she pulled two almost identical dresses out of her closet and held them up.

"Either one is fine, Connor will love you no matter what you wear," Dawn replied with a short laugh and warm grin on her face as she dug through the small amount of makeup that she had bought with David's money over the last few days after the big fight.

"Besides this isn't even a formal party, we're all friends just hanging out and having a good time," Michelle said with an excited smile on her face as she turned the page of the newspaper, glad to not see any of their names in the articles about the battle.

"If only that were true," Katy grumbled with an unhappy pout on her face as she crossed her arms and scowled at the tops of her shoes while sitting in the chair nearest to the window.

"Your foul mood wouldn't by any chance have anything to do with the fact that Paul had to hurry home would it," Dawn asked with an amused smirk on her face, one soon shared by the other young women in the room, as she stood up and walked towards Katy, her smile growing larger and sweeter with every step.

"What, why would I care about that," Katy snapped back with an overly hostile tone to her voice before she growled, stood up, and then left the room.

"Could she be any more obvious," Morgan asked no one in particular with an amused smirk on her face as she looked back into the room at the other young women before they were all momentarily taken over by a small fit of giggling.

"I don't know, something tells me that Katy didn't date much," Michelle finally said with a thoughtful look on her face as she turned and looked at the door that Katy had just walked out of moments before.

"Guess she probably didn't meet to many guys that were really interested in her for more than her assets," Dawn agreed with a sympathetic look on her face before Jamie peeked into the room.

"Have you guys seen Willow, she said that she wanted my help in setting something up but I can't seem to find her," Jamie asked with an innocent and nervous smile on her face as she lightly leaned up against the doorway.

"Last time I saw her she was in the ballroom with Xander and Maria, trying to hang the last few decorations and make sure that everything's ready," Morgan replied with a deep in thought look on her face as she kept looking back and forth between the two dresses. Jamie said her thanks and then quickly left, softly shutting the door behind her.

"Looks like Katy's not the only one with a crush," Michelle said with a forlorn frown on her face as she started off looking up at Dawn but then quickly looked back down at her newspaper.

"What do you mean," Morgan asked with a confused look on her face as she laid the two dresses down on the bed and looked up at Michelle.

"Well it's obvious isn't it, Maria has a thing for Xander, you see how she made sure to get him to help her with setting up the party," Michelle nervously replied with a slightly embarrassed look on her face as she kept her gaze fixed on the headlines of the newspaper.

"You sure that you're not just covering up your own feelings for him," Dawn asked with an amused grin on her face as she watched Morgan try to figure out which dress to wear.

"What's that supposed to…I do not have feelings for Xander, besides he's several years older than me and," Michelle started to reply with an unhappy look on her face as she looked up from the newspaper and settled her sights squarely on Dawn.

"So, that hasn't stopped Faith being with Wesley now has it, and Jamie and Willow seem to be hitting it off quite well and they're several years apart, Jamie's nearing thirty and Willow's barely twenty three, it could happen," Morgan interjected with a slight shrug of her shoulders as she was still trying to decide between the two dresses.

"But I'm not Faith…or Jamie, I'm not beautiful like them," Michelle said with a noticeable quiver in her voice as she angrily closed the newspaper before she couldn't take it any longer and left the room.

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"I hate parties," Angel grumbled with an unhappy pout on his face as he sat in one of the corners of the large room, with Nina at his side, while the party was in full swing all around him.

"Could you like them for tonight, for me," Nina asked with a to cute smile on her face before she began to pout.

"I guess," Angel grumbled back softly in reply when he became convinced that he would lose the argument if he tried to resist.

"Good, now if we can just get some people dancing then this would be a real party," Maria interjected with a slightly tired and unhappy pout on her face as she walked up beside them and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"We're really not a dancing group Maria, most of us anyway," Wesley replied with a slightly nervous look on his face before he took a sip of his drink and slightly nodded his head in Faith's direction.

"Well are Buffy and Spike…hey, where'd they go," Maria started to ask with an unhappy frown on her face as she looked out across the dance floor only to find that Spike and Buffy were no long there.

"They, well they're busy," Angel replied with an embarrassed and nervous shrug of his shoulders as he looked very uncomfortable giving the answer.

"Doing what," Maria asked with a look of slow comprehension on her face as she uncrossed her arms and turned back to Angel.

"Take a guess," Katy quipped with an amused smirk on her face as she got up to get another refill of the punch.

"What…you mean they're, but there's a party going on here," Maria

"There's a party going on up there as well…speaking of which, Wes," Faith said with a small yawn before she drained the rest of her punch and then tapped the top of her wrist.

"Angel, can we talk…in private," Wesley asked with a suddenly serious and almost sad frown on his face as he handed Faith his cup and then stood up.

"Sure," Angel said with a slightly confused look on his face before he stood up and followed Wesley out of the room.

"What's going on," Nina asked with a concerned look on her face as she turned around in her seat to face Faith.

"Nothing much, he's just saying goodbye, we're leaving right after the party and neither one of us is good at saying goodbye so…besides Wes said that they had to talk about a few things anyway, best to just let them talk," Faith replied with a tired look on her face before she stood up fully and then walked out of the room.

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Willow watched from her room as she saw Wesley and Faith drive away on two heavily laden motorcycles after having nervously hugged Angel. The party had barely been over for twenty minutes and they were already leaving, something that most of those now living in the house would have to do soon. Lorne had been very quiet over the last few days but had kicked the party into high gear towards the end. David had offered him a job in his company and Lorne had only accepted the job after Angel had given him a quick pep talk. Willow could tell by the waves of passion that were filtering through the house what Spike and Buffy were doing a few rooms away, somehow keeping it all quiet. Feeling a little hot Willow opened the window and drew back the curtains. She smiled softly to herself as she looked back into the room to Jamie's sleeping form, curled up underneath the covers. Their clothes strewn about the room Willow inwardly joked that the room looked like a tornado had hit it but in reality Jamie had been her second party that night. The two had barely made it out of the ballroom before going at it, somehow making it up the stairs and back to her room.

After Wesley and Faith left Angel had pulled Connor off to the side and the two took a long walk out by the lake. When they came back Angel and Nina announced that they would be leaving the next night for a long needed vacation, one that they didn't know when they'd be coming back from. Connor started to add that he was going with them but Morgan had quickly jumped in and declared that wherever Connor went she was going as well. Before the party was even over Giles had already booked several plane tickets for the trip back to Rome. After dancing with many of the new slayers at the party Xander had said he was tired and had no sooner walked into his room before he flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep.

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Buffy awoke at just before dawn to find Spike's side of the bed empty and a letter lying in his place. Tears sprang to her eyes as she read the letter, but they were not tears of pain or sorrow but tears of angst and some joy as the last line of the letter had read that when his task, given to him by Whistler, was over that he would return to her and then never leave her side again. She wiped away those tears as she slipped into her nightgown and went to sit by the window.

Many miles away Spike slid into his seat on the plane and cursed himself for listening to Whistler. The only place that he wanted to be was back in bed with Buffy, but the immortal demon had gone on and on about how important the mission was and that it would lead to good things that Spike had finally agreed, if only to get his to shut up. Spike was about to nod off to sleep when he felt something strange in one of the pockets of his duster. He wrinkled up his face in surprise as he pulled a small letter out of the pocket. He could tell instantly that Buffy had written it by the handwriting. He slowly slid it open and clenched his jaw tightly as he read her heartfelt words. In the letter she had guessed that there was something that he still needed to do and that he would return to her afterwards. She ended the letter with wishes of good luck and a speedy return. Spike chuckled a bit at that and was about to fold the letter back up when he noticed a little something extra at the bottom. There was a postscript at the bottom of the page that read: Next time you're in Rome…. Wonder what it meant Spike started to fold the letter back up and then put it into the envelope when he noticed that there was something in the envelope. With an interested expression on his face he turned the envelope over and a small key fell out. Chuckling to himself Spike closed the shade on the small window of the plane and went to sleep, never knowing that several moments later the passenger that would sit beside him carefully reached over and opened it back up. The next thing that Spike knew they were landing in New York.

END OF CHAPTER 48 AND CONSEQUENCES

NEYT is the first sequel to this story that takes place over a year's time and only tells about Katy, Maria, and Paul and the friends that they meet. If people want there will be a sequel to this story that will take place after Nyet, but it will be more in line with this story and not Nyet. Thank you all for reading and remember reviews are appreciated.


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